


Which Path I Take, Which Turn I Make

by Dustfactory



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Animagus, Black Hermione Granger, Creature Fic, F/M, Future Fic, Immortal Harry Potter, M/M, Master of Death Harry Potter, Muggles, Powerful Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-28
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-06 07:28:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 31,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12206625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dustfactory/pseuds/Dustfactory
Summary: Harry dies in the final battle, and Death gives him three choices. To pass on, to live while Voldemort ceases to exist, or...Harry makes a hasty emotionaly driven decision, holding the horcrux child tight to his chest at the ghostly Kings Cross station that will have far reaching consequences he barely comprehends and spares not more than a brief thought for. After all how can a teenage wizard understand just what forever means?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't written anything in years. YEARS. I don't have much faith that this will get any farther than any of my old fics did, I'm not very good at motivating myself to write. But I just really really wanted a fic that took into consideration just what Harry being the MoD and immortal meant in a few hundred years when technology has advanced and... well we'll get there. This will likely be a bit scifi-ish.

Harry opened his eyes to nothing but white, and clenched them shut quickly. His first thought being that he was yet again in the Hogwarts hospital wing. When the blinding white didn't instantly sear into his brain like a hot poker, he cracked an eye back open carefully. And then blinked a couple times as his surroundings came into a sort of dream like focus. Or rather, didn't as there were no surroundings. 

Harry stared around himself, baffled. Where was he? The last he remembered was...

"Hello, little Master." A dry voice whispered like leaves, like a million voices, timeless; Harry whipped his head around nearly throwing his glasses into the white abyss. A strange figure stood beside him infinitely tall and dark in the great white expanse; a dark never ending slash. 

"Wha- sorry, who are you?" He asked confused. As he studied the figure, he seemed to shrink a bit maybe, become a more of an understandable shape, instead of a dark split in reality. A hooded cloak seemed to define itself around the being, and beyond him the whiteness slowly shaped itself into what could be a train platform of some sort.

"Why, Master, I'm Death." He bowed with a little flourish. Or at least, Harry assumed it was a him. Rather difficult to tell really. "And I'm here to give you a choice."

"Erm, sorry, Death?" Harry blinked, looking around himself at the now fully formed, if a little bit misty, version of Kings Cross. He could hear a quiet crying that tugged at his heart somewhere near by and it distracted him.

"Yes, Master." The teen glanced back at the dark figure, it's voice taking on more of a human cadence, a small bit of amusement bleeding into it. 

Harry started to wander towards where the soft sobs were coming from, "What is that sound? Is there a baby here somewhere? And I'm not anyone's 'Master.'" He said absently, as the self appointed 'Death' floated behind him lazily. Where was that crying coming from? The dark haired youth bent down to check under a few benches. 

"Oh, but you are, my Master."

Harry, still looking for the sound of the crying baby, continued until he crouched down under the last bench and found a the most foul looking child he'd ever seen. Bleeding from cracked oozing skin and red eyed, it cried quietly in the way that things that think to be ignored cry. Harry recoiled in disgust, but quickly felt guilty. The little thing might be deformed and sickly but he remembered well what it felt like to cry quietly while no one cared or listened.

"Oh you poor thing," he whispered, inching back towards it. He slid his finger gently under it's frail body trying not to jostle it too much for fear of hurting it more. "Shhhh," he whispered to it cradling it close to his chest. The thing quickly buried its face in the front of his robes, tiny fingers clinging tightly to the fabric and its sobs quieting a bit.

Harry glanced back up at 'Death' who was waiting quietly for him. His memory twinged a bit, flashes of a fight coming back to him, a green light...

Comprehension slowly dawned on him.

"If you're, erm, 'Death' then," The figure nodded. "Am I uh, dead? Where are we?" Harry slowly stroked a gentle hand down the baby's back, trying not to look too hard at it.

"Well, not quite, Master. We're in-between right now. As my Master I am here to give you a choice," Death repeated. Harry decided to let the Master thing go for now. Nothing seemed very real at the moment, but it's wasn't like he hadn't seen plenty of oddness in his short life.

"Alright..." the boy said slowly. "What choice?" The figure continued to give the impression of faint amusement, before gracefully sitting down on a bench. Harry sat across from him, carefully settling the baby against his chest. It snuffled a bit and seemed to try to burrow itself into his robes more fully.

"First, Master, you may move on and see your loved ones. I will retrieve my cloak, stone, and wand." These items as he mentioned them, the boy realised he was indeed wrapped in his invisibility cloak, the old Gaunt ring sat heavily on his finger, and Dumbledore's old knobby wand peaked out of his pocket. It would be so nice to see his parents, Sirius, all the people he had lost, but-

"Second, you may return and I will take that-" Death nodded towards the babe which whimpered at the attention of the being, clinging tightly to Harry. Instinctively the black haired youth pulled it closer, wrapping a bit of the cloak around it. "Which is the last bit of Tom Marvolo Riddle and you may return to kill the main soul piece finally, or whatever you may wish to do." 

Harry glanced down at the pathetic creature, now sobbing again into his robes.

"But sir, what will happen to it?" He asked worriedly. His heart broke a bit at the sorry sight. "Shhhhh, hush now, it's okay." Even knowing it was a bit of the Dark Lord he still couldn't find it in himself to hate it. 

Death shrugged. "Your 'Voldemort' when he finally passes away will simply cease to exist. His soul is scattered all over, having died at different points in time. I find it much too time consuming to go hunting for all the parts to piece it back together again." Harry's jaw clenched tightly, glancing down at the babe. Not ever having the chance to move on? Yes, Voldemort had done many horrible twisted things in his life, but that seemed a bit extreme to him. He couldn't in good conscience pick the second choice.

"I can't do that, is there another option?" Death sighed as if he knew Harry would say this.

"I suppose..." Death hummed a bit, staring at him from under his deep hood. "Your soul is complete, but having had that thing attached to you for most of your life has left a bit of a gap. Your body is used to having an extra sliver in it and adjusted to accommodate it early in life. I could blend your soul and that thing together, so you are no longer separate entities. Being a part of you, however, would make it impossible for you to ever kill your 'Voldemort.' Since the main piece is still living, the bits of him floating around are still have a tether that I can follow. I would need to return them to him, since having them here would cause," Death paused for a moment, "Issues." 

Harry thought about this for a bit. "Would he be sane again?"

Death chuckled, "It would certainly not hurt. However, there are other conditions before you choose this option." Warily, the boy nodded for him to continue. "You, would become immortal. You would not be able to ever move on to see your loved ones. You would be trading your eventual choice at dying, for Tom Riddle's soul." Death paused, letting the information sink in. "Any barriers that may have been in effect due to the accidental horcrux and creation of it will be gone." At this point Harry wasn't much listening anymore, having stopped after realising he wouldn't be able to ever die. Bloody hell, never seeing any of his loved ones? Was Voldemort worth that kind of sacrifice? He glanced down again swallowing around a lump in his throat. The horcux seemed to know what he was thinking, as it's cries increased again in volume. Why was it always Harry that had to do these things? 

No. no, he couldn't leave a soul to cease to exist just for his own well being, even the Dark Lord's. He clenched his eyes shut as moisture gathered in the corners, thinking hard, but already knowing the choice he was going to make. He would find some other way to deal with Voldemort. He had never wanted to kill him in the first place really anyway.

Death was quiet, realising his little Master wasn't listening anymore. 

Harry nodded tightly, again pulling the little creature closer into his chest. A train that he hadn't realised had even reached the station behind him blew it's whistle, getting ready to leave.

"Are you certain, Master? Think carefully. This is your last chance to move on. You life will be eternal, as long as there is still Death." The boy glanced up, his green eyes bright with tears and determination.

"Yes." He said, "I'll take the last option." He took a deep breath, "I cannot condemn Voldemort to that fate, no matter what he's done in his life." The train whistled one last time, before starting to pull away from the station. His last chance gone.

"As you say, Master, so shall it be." Death's hand flew towards him then so quickly he didn't see it move and slammed into the baby crushing it with an excruciating pain into Harry's chest. They both screamed as pain scorched his very soul, ripping it apart and reforming it. A blast of white light and the sensation of moving very very quickly and then everything was dark.

* * *

When Harry woke, it was to screams. The Death Eaters around him were yelling and scrambling over the forest floor, and everything in Harry ached like he had been eaten by that Hungarian Horntail and then spat back out chewed to bits and burnt. His very bones hurt. His skin felt too tight, and his head throbbed like someone had stuck a knife in his scar and dug something out of it. He bit back a scream as everything in his body _pulsed_.

Carefully cracking one crusty eye open, he tried to figure out what all the yelling was about. He had vague hazy memories of... Kings Cross and a baby? His head felt very muddled and and the dream seemed to be losing focus and details quickly. He decided to worry about it later, as there were much more pressing matters like the fact that Voldemort seemed to be gone and that his skin was trying to eat him alive.

His eyes flew open wide, he knew he should be more careful but no one seemed to be paying any attention to him. Glancing down at his side he saw the edge of his invisibility cloak peaking out from under him. Quickly snagging it he pulled it up around him, covering himself completely and half crawling into the trees while the Death Eaters scrambled around frantically.

Panting a bit, but now safe from immediate danger, he looked over the scene trying to figure out what had happened. There was a body curled up in the fetal position on the ground breathing unsteadily while one of the Death Eaters checked it frantically. Dark chestnut curls were tangled with leaves and sickly pale skin was flushed and sweaty. The figure was tangled in a black robe that he seemed to swim in.

Harry gasped quietly realising Voldemort wasn't gone, exactly. His mind flashed back to his odd dream, something caught at the edge of his mind. Returning all Voldemort's soul pieces...

Most of the Death Eaters had bolted at this point scrambling off into the Forbidden Forest and disapparating. Narcissa Malfoy walked out of the trees near him, close enough to almost touch him. Without looking in his direction, she whispered under her breath, "Is my son still alive?"

"Yes." Harry gasped, still panting quietly in pain.

"Can he be killed now?" Harry tried to remember something but it slipped through his pain addled mind. He did think all of the soul pieces had been returned but- "I- I think so uh,"

She nodded not bothering to wait for the rest of his response, and with her wand twitching at her side she walked cautiously into the clearing to the Dark Lord's side. Riddle managed finally to crack one still red eye open, and glance up at her, gritting his teeth.

Harry could see his limbs tremble as he tried to push himself off the ground and slipped, falling back into the dirt. "Narcisssa" He hissed, but it failed to be as menacing as it might have been otherwise as his voice trembled. 

"My Lord." She said quietly. Coldly.

"Don't do this Narcissa." He ground out. "I will make you regret this."

She didn't respond except to lift her wand. " _Avada Kedavra_ ," she incanted with a hard voice and a flash of green light, not bothering to glance back at him she strode off quickly into the trees towards Hogwarts. Riddle stopped shaking and went deadly silent and still on the ground. Harry stumbled out of the trees towards him, his cloak falling away from his shoulders. Crashing to his knees next to the man who looked like he could be a little older than himself, he nearly fell forward onto him almost unable to hold himself up any longer.

An unrecognizable amount of emotions tore turbulently through his brain, adrenaline barely holding him together. He reached a shaking clammy palm towards Riddle wondering if it was actually over. Wondering why there was a little corner of his brain that rebelled at that idea. Again the memory of his dream nagged at the edges of his thoughts. When he touched the man, searching for a pulse in his throat, his hand and Riddle's throat was so slick with sweat and other things it was hard to feel anything. But there, a faint thready pulse just there barely tapping against his fingers. Harry wasn't sure if he was relieved or not, or what he felt really. He _hated_ Voldemort with every fiber of his being, and yet this wasn't quite Voldemort anymore.

He remembered an angry dark eyed vicious little child in a dreary grey room, so hungry for magic, to be special, to be noticed.

A ringing in his ears started, quiet at first and then ear splitting slowly building in volume. Green eyes clenched shut, as he toppled over to the side, getting a face full of dirt and leaves, but feeling too much pain to notice. Fingers clenched over his ears, ripping at sweaty black locks trying to drown out the noise as Harry screamed, before he again fell into the darkness of unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry screamed.

For days, for years, for decades it seemed, he _screamed_.

The ringing in his ears pulsed with his blood, a drum beat that pounded its fury into his head, ripping at everything that he was until he was nothing but a the steady ringing beat. He forgot his name, he forgot who he was. Everything fell away until there was no Harry, there was just pain and the pulse.

And then he burned, acid and fire and the beat that pushed it back and forth like a raging storm playing tug-o-war in his veins. Sometimes he thought there might have been more, sometimes he remembered snippets of what was a life before the insanity that shredded him against it.

Sometimes he thought he felt ghostly icy fingers in what might have been his hair, soothing him but never releasing him from the excruciating mass of torment he had become. They felt like an escape that he had lost or given up. He couldn't remember why or who or what. He thought maybe there had been a reason he had given it up but nothing seemed to make any sense.

Sometimes it released him in waves, the staccato of acid and fire, enough for him to remember who he was. Flickers of a small babe that had clung to him desperate beyond anything to live, to exist. At those times he thought that there had indeed been some sort of reason for not escaping this torment. Dark grey hungry eyes in a child's face that was too sharp for one so young. _I can make bad things happen to people..._ Too sharp and hungry, hungry for anything to improve his situation. Sharp like his face had been after weeks locked in a cupboard in the dark with nothing but spiders and dust for company.

And then the vicious ringing would pick back up and engulf him in a wave of insanity. And he would scream.

* * *

An eternity passed, as Harry's universe ended and was reborn. Eventually the pulsing tide that had scoured his soul and body raw and shattered him beyond recognition, cradling him in it's stomach, wrapped in sharp claws and fire seemed to grudgingly release him back into himself. He felt as though he had been reborn anew, a creature forged into a new blade from a lump of unmolded metal.

He began to hear voices first, mumbling in and out like static from an old tinny radio.

"...Don't know what... Kingsley.. sentenced to..." He tried to hold on to them, but his fading consciousness slipped through his fingers like so much sand.

* * *

Finally Harry, yes he finally remembered he was _Harry_ felt himself start to wake. His eyelids felt gritty and everything in his body had a low pulsing ache, but it was easy enough to ignore. 

"Master," a voice whispered, cold breath against his face, icy fingers against his scalp. "Come now, my little Master. It's time for you to wake." The dark haired youth drew in a deep cleansing breath reveling in the near lack of pain that he felt from it, and managed to peel his eyes open. A dark figured leaned over him, deep hood filled with the blackness that can only be found when looking into a never ending abyss. It gave him a bit vertigo staring into it, like he was standing at the edge of a yawning principy and the figure drew back enough to sit back on the edge of his bed.

He seemed to be in the hospital wing and it was very late at night, and yet everything around him had an understated glitter of some sort. And a feeling of absolute stillness that made Harry shiver a bit.

The dream he had had between being hit with Voldemort's killing curse and waking up on the forest floor came back to him in snippets again and he gasped, trying to bolt up. The figure settled a gentle hand on his shoulder, and the pillows behind him rearranged themselves easily so he could lay back in a semi-sitting position. 

"...Death?" He whispered raggedly, his voice raspy from screaming. 

"Yes, my Master." The figure's cold hand slid down his right shoulder to grasp his thin bony wrist, rubbing it's thumb over the pulse point in a soothing manner. Harry glanced down at it and saw a black symbol on his skin just under the being's fingers. He tugged his hand out of Death's grip and brought it closer to his face for inspection.

A triangle, surrounding a circle, split down the middle was seemingly tattooed in the blackest of inks, about three centimeters wide. "Wha-" he coughed, a bit, gasping. He ran his other thumb over it, and it was cool to the touch just a bit, but otherwise felt no different from the rest of his skin.

Harry blinked, confused, never having seen anything in quite such strong detail before. The edges of it were crisp and black, a little bit of filigree twisted up his arm reminding him of the old cast iron fence Mrs. Figg had had around her yard. 

The dark haired youth gasped quietly, reaching up to touch the bridge of his nose where no glasses sat. "I can s- ee!" Coughing again, Death produced a glass of water from seemingly nowhere and Harry gladly drank it like a dying man.

"Slowly Master, you've been unconscious for nearly a month." Death said with a bit of amusement, but Harry slowed down and sipped at the glass. Now that his throat was soothed he cradled the cool glass against him with his left hand.

"A month? What happened?" _blinding pain, venom and fire..._ Harry shook himself shivering. Beyond that door lay insanity. Looking around again he noticed Hermione slumped over in a chair next to his bed, her thick dark hair stringy and her chocolate complexion looking waxy and worn. "Mione!" He gasped, and went to reach out for her, but Death caught his fingers. 

"Shh my little Master, she will be fine. I have paused time for a bit so we can have an uninterrupted conversation about what has happened to you." Green eyes blinked and he realised that the feeling of unnatural stillness around him was because nothing at all was moving. The dust in the air was frozen in place, and Hermione was still, her chest not rising and falling. 

"Alright." He conceded. Answers would be good. He trusted Death, inexplicably for some reason, which was a new feeling for him, not trusting anyone easily. But he knew he could trust this being, and his gut feelings were generally correct.

Death gave off the impression of a faint indulging smile, again keeping ahold of his wrist while rubbing soothing circles against the Hallows mark on his wrist.

"Do you remember the choice you made, while we were In-Between, Master?" Harry scrunched up his nose, thinking hard. 

"I- I.. There was a baby that was crying. And um. I couldn't uh..." It came back in little snippets, and Death sat patiently waiting, his thumb making soothing circles on his wrist. "I chose... to keep uh.." His eyes flew wide and he gasped. "I chose to keep the horcrux! And you said I would never be able to see my parents or Sirius again!" Tears prickled his eyes, and the glass he was still holding started to vibrate a bit. Death reached up and plucked the mostly empty cup from his hand and set it on the table next to him so it wouldn't spill. 

"And...?" 

"And you said... I would be immortal?" Death nodded.

"Yes Master, you gave your chance at death for Tom Marvolo Riddle's soul so that he would not cease to exist. And in return I merged the horcrux with your soul, and it removed all barriers between it and you." Harry swallowed, not really understanding quite what any of that meant but the thought of never seeing his parents again _hurt_. 

"What does that, erm, mean? All barriers? Like my mother's love?"

"Yes, Master. Your mother's love had to be removed, and any protections the horcrux afforded you as its container were dissolved. Your magic had been fighting to keep it contained for almost your entire life, and in return, the horcrux had held back certain things in your blood and mind that would have killed you previously."

Things that would have killed him? "What would have killed me, sir?" He asked baffled. 

Death chuckled, "No need to call me sir, little Master." The dark clad being paused for a moment still rubbing soothing circles on his right wrist. "When you were but a babe, Albus Dumbledore placed a number of bindings on you. Mostly on your magic and abilities. The horcrux staved off the worst of the effects, as such strong bindings would have insured your core eventually collapsed under their weight." Harry's eyes flew wide and he drew in a sharp breath. "They are gone now, my Master. No one shall ever be able to bind you again. I will not allow it." Red hot anger bubbled under his skin, and the corner of his bedding started to smoke. "Calm Master, there is more." Harry swallowed hard, trying to push the anger back down with his flimsy Occlumency shields, which, surprisingly seemed to work better than it ever had before.

"The great serpent you fought and defeated when you were twelve that bit you, and the fire bird that cried on the wound would have changed you, eventually killing you if it hadn't been for the horcrux's protection." Wait what? Fawk hadn't healed him? As though knowing what his Master was thinking Death continued, "No, Master the phoenix tears and the basilisk venom while neutralizing each other for a time, would have eventually torn you apart as they battled in your blood for dominance. Both are as strong as the other. If you had chosen to return without my offer of immortality you would have lived another ten years as your body eventually collapsed under the pressure of the bindings and the waring substances in your blood without the horcrux to stave off the effects." Voldemort's horcrux had... saved him? It was such an odd thought, that he stuffed it down under his shields again to deal with some other time.

"When you returned, your body had to adjust to all of the changes, and being unable to die, it was forced to adapt. You spent nearly a month fading in and out of consciousness, delerious, as your very cells shifted to accommodate your unbound core and the substances in your blood." Death grinned at him, "You will find that one ability which only surfaced briefly in your childhood is now completely at your disposal. I think you will find it very useful over your continued existence." Death touched his temple with a long spindly finger and a faint memory of his hair regrowing overnight after a dreadful haircut by his Aunt surfaced. "You will have to learn how to use it properly, but the Black blood from your grandmother mixed with the muggle blood from your mother unlocked the same blood trait your Nymphadora Tonks had." He was a _metamorphmagus_?! Bloody hell.

"What, wait why will that be useful?" Death shook his head fondly, "I think you will find that you would like to hide this," He gave Harry's wrist a squeeze, "Among many other... uses." Harry nodded unsure exactly what other things he could want to hide or change but he supposed he would discover it eventually.

"Lastly, my little Master. The venom and tears in your blood has made you somewhat of a hybrid. As both creatures have some semblance of immortality, you will find they help you with your ability to survive the eons. They both have the mindsets of immortals, which is something that Humans lack. You would have eventually buckled under insanity otherwise. There are other more superficial traits but I think I will let you discover those yourself. Your metamorph abilities will help you greatly here as well to use these things." Harry's thoughts drifted off at the word 'eons.' The very idea of living _eons_ scared him more than he had ever been frightened before, and in a sick cosmic joke he had what Voldemort had always wished for, and without even trying.

"Now, I must go, I will leave you to your mortal friends. This one here," he tilted his chin towards Hermione, "Will be of great assistance. She loves you steadfastly, and unconditionally. Allow yourselves to support each other. Her life will be but a blink in your eternity and you will regret it if you push her away." He gave Harry's wrist an affectionate squeeze. "And of course, if you call I will come my little Master." And then he was gone, as if he had never existed. The strange dull glitter that had suffused the room began to move with the dust in swirling patterns. Hermione's back began to rise and fall again with slow sleeping breaths. 

Harry yawned widely, his jaw cracking. So much to think about, but later. He reached out to touch the limp dark curls on his friend's head a warmth suffusing him at her presence. 

She shot up blearily and gasped, "HARRY!" And he barely had a second to brace himself against the pillows behind him before she launched herself into his arms, sobbing. "Oh, Harry you're awake," He wrapped his arms around her too thin body, basking in her warmth. He loved this girl like the sister he had never had. He buried his face in her hair, it's unwashed smell not bothering him in the least. 

"Shhh 'Mione," he whispered against her head, rubbing hands up and down her knobbly spine. "I'm okay, everything is okay now." and at that moment, it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, Harry and Hermione are just the very best of friends :)


	3. Chapter 3

Harry and Hermione sat together for some time, just basking in each other's presence. Finally, after Hermione had cried herself out, she pulled back to sit on the bed next to her best friend and wiped her eyes. She had been so _worried_ after nearly a month of not being able to wake Harry, nor able to figure out what was keeping him from waking. And the _screams_... She shuddered, locking the memories away. The helplessness had almost consumed her.

She focused back on the dark haired boy in front of her studying him. He was different, just a bit not really anything all that noticeable. He obviously needed a shower and a good meal or ten. They all had after spending so long in the woods without proper food or medical care. In the dark it was hard to see anything concrete. His hair was just as black as it had always been, his body small and lithe from years of malnourishment and neglect. His eyes still a bright unreal bottle green she had never really seen on anyone else before.

"Hermione, what happened while I was, erm.." 

"Sick?"

"Yes, well, the last thing I really remember was Voldemort tried to kill me and it failed again and he was reverted back to his human looking self. And then Mrs. Malfoy... uh, well," He paused scrunching his nose up a bit as if trying to remember something. Hermione waited for him to continue. "I think she tried to AK Voldemort while he was laying on the ground, but he didn't die. And all the Death Eaters took off." Her face crumpled a bit fearing Harry's reaction to what would come next.

"Oh Harry, it was just horrible. We found you passed out on the forest in that clearing, next to V- Voldemort," She stuttered a bit trying to say his name. Harry reached out and grasped her hand tightly in his. "And no one could wake you. Voldemort was barely alive, and no one really knew what to do with either of you. The ministry is such a mess right now, Kingsley has been elected the interim Minister while they try to straighten everything out and figure out when they're going to hold elections." Harry watched her under his fringe with a haunted look as she spoke.

"And what happened to Riddle?" He asked quietly.

"They tried to-" She took a deep breath, shaking a bit. "They tried to kill him Harry. So many ways, poison, spells, Dementors, but they couldn't. He just wouldn't die, nothing they did worked. So they put the strongest magic restraints on him the Department of Mysteries could make and he's to face trial tomorrow so they can decide what to do with him." Green eyes widened a fraction, and the episode with Kings Cross and Death and the baby came back to him finally, in near clarity at last. 

"They won't be able to kill him, 'Mione." _Being a part of you, however, would make it impossible for you to ever kill your 'Voldemort.'_ He now remembered Death saying to him. 

She looked at him sharply, "What do you mean Harry? They won't be able to kill him?"

"Well, alright so, erm. This is going to sound very strange but..." He flipped his right wrist over, the one not holding her hand and showed her the tattoo on it. She eyes widened a bit and she gasped grasping his right hand to inspect it. "I think I'm... I think I can't die and now neither can Voldemort." And then he went on to explain the 'dream' he had had after Voldemort had killed him, and then everything Death had told him before she had woken up. He felt lost and confused and he knew if anyone could help him straighten it out it would be her.

"Oh Harry," Her eyes welled with tears again, after she had listened quietly to his story. She leaned down to hug him tightly again, burying her face in his neck. It all sounded very impossible, but if she knew anything by now it was that if there was someone that defined the impossible it was her Harry.

"Of course I'll do whatever I can to help you. I'm always here for you whatever you need. You know that, you're my best friend." Harry squeezed her tightly so glad she was here with him. "I just can't believe Dumbledore would do that to you. Really all of it sounds very strange. But I suppose, hm." Her mind was off and spinning thinking about all the things that had happened to them each year and how they had seem a bit contrived at the time. How Harry had been a horcrux and his horrible family and-

As she leaned back again he asked, "What about Ron and the Weasleys?" She would think about it all later. There was plenty of time for all of that.

"They've been here a few times, but you know with Fred..." Green eyes squeezed shut and he nodded silently as tears leaked down his face. So many dead. So much life wasted. "Harry... what about Ginny? She's been here sometimes sitting with you. What are you going to do about you and her?" Harry shook his head, not really wanting to think about it. 

"I don't know, I need time." She nodded understandingly. He took a deep breath and flicked his fingers to check the time. Her eyes widened a bit at the silent and wandless _tempus_. It was just a bit after two in the morning. "'Mione, Death said I would want to hide this. Can you help me...?" Her face hardened a bit in determination.

"Yes, how are you feeling? Maybe we should go into the loo and see if we can't get you cleaned up a bit and figure something out. I can help you glamor it if we can't figure out how you can hide it right now." 

"I feel alright, that would be good. Thanks." And he went to stand, feeling a bit shaky still she helped him towards the door at the end of the infirmary where the attached bathroom was. It lit up as they entered and she steered him over to sit on the toilet. 

"Alright, I talked to Tonks a few time," Hermione sniffled a bit thinking about the Auror, "A-about her abilities because they were just so _fascinating_ ," Harry cracked a bit of an amused smile at this, "And she said when she was little it was hard to control, and part of why she was so clumsy most of the time was because as a metamorphmagus she never had a set form. So her center of balance was always shifting around on her, especially before she got the hang of it." 

Harry grinned, good old Hermione. Now her eyes were sparkling with that light she got when she found something interesting. Her whole face seemed to come alive as she talked. 

"I don't think you should have that problem, since you've already had a set form for your entire life. But she said part of learning how to control her morphing was how she viewed herself internally and subconsciously. She had to be sure of who _she_ was before her body would reflect that." He nodded to show he was listening.

"So really I think the key here, is for you to _know_ that your wrist or whichever part of you should look a certain way. You already know how your wrist looks without the tattoo so all you have to do is know that's what it should look like." 

"So clear my mind and all that mumbo jumbo again, eh?" She quirked her lips a bit.

"No I don't think so, more like try closing your eyes and thinking about how your wrist should look. And try to believe that is how it looks." 

"Okay." He clenched his eyes tightly shut, and thought about his wrist, how the skin was pale and unblemished. He focused on that thought, and tried to tamp down on any of the other boiling things rolling about in the back of his mind that he was trying not to think about. _Like how Riddle had looked so pale and clammy on the ground shaking as Narcissa walked towards him..._

"Harry! Um," He opened his eyes and glanced up at her confused, "Um, maybe not quite, well it worked sort of..." She trailed off and he looked down at his blank wrist, before glancing up at her. She looked a bit confused and frightened however. 

"What? What happened?" He glanced over at the big mirror behind him and his eyes widened. "Oh uh, yeah, sorry." His eyes had gone red and his black hair was a curly chestnut brown. "Erm, whoops." He said sheepishly. Dragging up the image of himself, scruffy black hair and green eyes, he focused again. This time when he glanced at the mirror he was himself.

"Sorry about that, I might have gotten a bit lost in my thoughts there." Hermione smiled at him, and shook her head a bit. 

"Yes we'll probably have to work on that. But you did get it to work. So that's good." She looked at him critically and realised that there was still something a bit off about his eyes. "Harry, I think um. You missed something with your eyes they're still-" He glanced back at the mirror and realised that with the light as bright as it was in the bathroom his pupils had contracted a bit, but not in a circular pattern. They were still split like a snake's. 

"Oh." He thought again, hard about normal human eyes. _Round,_ he thought, eyes clenched tightly shut. _My eyes are round._ This time he felt resistance, like something inside him was rebelling against the order. When he opened his eyes however they were round and everything around him had lost the glitter he had seen since waking. In fact he couldn't see much of anything anymore, his vision was blurry again.

"There. That looks right." The dark blur in front of him nodded. He felt disappointed it had been so nice to see everything in such sharp clarity. 

"'Mione, can you maybe go grab my glasses from next to the bed?" The bookworm gave him a sharp look that he didn't see. Why had he just now asked?

"Of course Harry." She got up and left to go get them, and when she returned he took them gratefully, sliding the old clunky frames onto his nose. Everything swam back into focus, but was nowhere near as clear as it had been before. 

"I think I'm going to take a quick shower." She nodded understandingly and stepped back to close the door so he could have some privacy. "And, 'Mione? Thanks." She smiled at him lightly before clicking the door shut behind her.

* * *

The shower was divine. Something inside of him purred at the hot water, that he had instinctively left at the highest temperature that it could muster. His skin should have boiled off, but it didn't. After finishing up scrubbing himself thoroughly he climbed out and wrapped a fluffy towel around his body. Drying charms were nice but he enjoyed the simple activity and softness of the material.

There were a few stacks of clean pajamas in a cabinet next to the sink and pulled them on over his pleasantly pink skin, feeling clean for the first time in forever. Fatigue settled into his bones, a deep heavy thing, and he opened the door to the bathroom thinking of nothing but sleep. Hermione was already asleep curled up on a bed next to his. He tugged her blanket up around her a little tighter, and she hummed quietly in her sleep. 

Climbing into his bed he curled up. Voldemort, Ginny, his weird new abilities, everything could wait until tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What I picture Harry's tattoo to look like:  
> 


	4. Chapter 4

Harry yawned and stretched, blinking against the bright sunlight. The moats of glittery dust stirred lazily about the room, highlighting the edges of things and sparkled with the afternoon sunlight. 

"Mister Potter." A stern voice said to his left. Harry blinked, realising the clarity of the room around him likely ment his eyes were wonky again. Before turning to look at McGonagall, he clenched his eyes tightly and thought _round_ again. _Please let my eyes be round._ He reached blindly towards the side table for his glasses before slipping them on and opening his eyes to look at the old Scottish witch.

Thankfully everything looked normal again, and he glanced quickly down at his wrist to make sure the tattoo hadn't also reverted during the night. It was still hidden.

Looking around quickly he noticed that Hermione seemed to be absent, but figured she had likely gone to get breakfast.

"Mister Potter, I heard from Miss Granger that you were feeling better and awake. I thought I would come to check on you." He nodded quickly.

"Yes Professor, I'm feeling much better today." His stomach roared and Pomfrey hurried over looking a bit frazzled and handed him a bowl of porridge and set a few potion vials next to his bed.

"After you finish your breakfast Mister Potter, I expect you to drink all of those." He scrunched his nose in distaste at both the porridge and potions. The death glare Pomfrey gave him however booked no arguments. "All of them, Mister Potter. I will be back to check on you in half an hour." McGonagall looked amused. Harry studied her in an attempt to put off eating the tasteless nutritional concoction that the old Healer always forced on him. The Scottish witch looked older than he had ever seen her. Nearly all of her hair was grey now, and her face was drawn and tired. A cane leaned next to her chair against his bed. 

"Well Potter, eat up. We have a lot to discuss." Harry groaned but started to shovel the porridge into his mouth while she talked.

"While you were out, we've started to rebuild Hogwarts. It is slow going, but there are a lot of people willing to dedicate their free time to the task. I think the old girl should be up and running by the new school year." Harry paused in his shoveling, swallowing.

"That's great news Professor. Or should I say Headmistress?" He asked slyly glancing at her sideways. Her lips twitched a bit at the corner. 

"Yes, Potter. Headmistress. We need to discuss what you want to do this next year. Will you be returning to finish your 7th year?" Harry blinked and thought for a moment.

"I'm not- I'm not sure Professor let me think about it for a while." She nodded sharply. 

"Alright, I know that Miss Granger plans to return. I think it would be best for you, but let me know your decision before the school year starts." She fiddled with her cane a bit in thought. "I would like to know just what exactly you and Miss Granger and Mister Weasley were doing while you were running about all year. I know that Albus assigned you a task-" At the old Headmaster's name Harry's face scrunched, "And I think it best with this whole You-Know-" She cleared her throat nervously, "V-Voldemort business it would be best for us to know everything." 

Harry glanced down at his now mostly empty bowl, stirring the contents around distractedly. "Yes. Alright. Okay." He took a deep breath. Something inside told him to keep the whole him being a horcrux business to himself. And the Death thing. But everything else would be good to tell. He supposed he could just feign ignorance at why Voldemort wasn't dead.

"Well, you remember in my second year with the Chamber of Secrets..." And he began to talk. Explaining about the diary, about and then about all the other horcruxes and everything Dumbledore had told him about the prophecy. The old witch's eyes darkened the more she heard, realising just how much Albus had kept from her over the years. She had know the man for upwards of 50 years, and while she knew he tried his best, he also tended to view people as chest pieces sometimes. For his Greater Good.

"And then well, Mrs. Malfoy tried to kill him. And it didn't work, I don't know why, maybe we missed one. Or maybe he had some other fail safe we don't know about. Has he said anything?" Harry asked her, glancing up through his fringe.

"Potter." She said, her voice softened a bit. "The prophecy says that _you_ need to defeat him. Perhaps it must be you to make the killing strike." Green eyes widened a bit, and he knew he wouldn't be able to do it. Not after everything, he just wanted _peace_ and a bit of normalcy in his life for once.

"P- Professor I don't know if- I don't think I _can_ even after everything he's done I don't think I-" He swallowed the lump in his throat. What would people think? Not being able to kill Voldemort. Not that he would have been able to anyway if what Death had told him was correct.

She looked troubled, torn. She realised that asking such a thing of anyone, especially a boy that had already gone through so much to stain their soul with murder was a terrible thing to do. She was not Albus. She would not ask it of him. She knew that others however would not be so kind.

"I understand, Harry." She laid an old wrinkled hand on his wrist for a moment. 

"Isn't there another way? Perhaps imprisoning him or something?" His eyes looked so hopeful, even as he felt guilt at not being able to rid the world of the worst Dark Lord that had happened in centuries.

"We'll figure something out Potter. However his trial is this evening. If you're feeling better, we need to get you cleaned up and we need to go to the ministry." He nodded, clenching his jaw. 

Pomfrey bustled over, looking at the still undrunk potions disapprovingly. 

"Mister Potter!" She huffed. Harry quickly shoveled the last bite of porridge into his mouth, before reaching over to drink the potions next to his bed. He uncorked and downed them quickly trying not to taste them. 

The nurse handed him a goblet of pumpkin juice for him to wash them down with. He took it gratefully.

"I know that you are needed tonight. Miss Granger was told to return around this time with your robes and anything else you might need." Pomfrey looked disapproving at the thought of releasing him before she thought he was good and ready, but Harry just felt relief. 

At that moment the witch in question hurried through the doors of the Hospital wing, carrying his clothing and other possessions. Harry grinned at her, and the newly appointed Headmistress struggled to her feet.

"I will return in one hour Mister Potter. See that you are presentable." And she turned and limped out of the room at a slow pace leaning heavily on her cane.

* * *

They had him so tightly tied down with chains to that blasted chair in the center of the courtroom Harry was shocked they didn't crush him under their weight. He could see some sort of heavy iron shackles around his wrists and ankles, glowing faintly with ruins. 

And he looked more pathetic than Harry had ever seen him. Tom Riddle's hair was lank and heavy a curtain over his face, his skin bruised a mottle of colors. He looked sickly and gaunt against the bright lights in the courtroom. His head hung heavily and he didn't bother attempting to answer any of the vitriol screamed at him from the crowd. 

Dementors floated near the ceiling, a ring of patroni keeping them back. Harry wondered how the Ministry had gotten them back, and why they thought it was a good idea to use them now on the man they had deserted for. He supposed it didn't really matter much, they likely only cared for their meals, and now that the Dark Lord couldn't offer them one...

Kingsley Shacklebolt sat front and center, with Amelia Bones of to the right and Percy of to his left. They all looked tired, but Percy looked furious, barely holding himself back. Harry remembered that Fred had died fighting with his brother. Sad that it had taken a death to reunite the family finally.

The crowd in the stands was vicious, they screamed for blood. Auras held them back as best they could, but a few had seemingly brought various things to hurrle at the Dark Lord. Something rotten hit the man in the face, and he barely reacted, letting it slide down onto the chains.

"QUIET!" Kingsley yelled with a sonorous charm, his voice booming through the room. People settled somewhat, but still looked rather mutinous. 

"Thank you, Minister Shacklebolt. Tom Marvolo Riddle, you are charged with multiple counts of murder, attempted murder, treason, attempting to overthrow the Ministry, dark magic, blood magic..." Harry listened as Bones read off the list of transgressions which seemed to be never ending. Through the entire thing the man never twitched.

"How do you plead?" The crowd surged screaming.

"GUILTY!" and "That foul bastard! Kill 'em!" Other more vicious things and more objects were hurled towards Riddle.

"If you all do not be QUIET I will remove you all from this courtroom!" Bones yelled her face furious. The mob settled back down grumbling a bit. Harry could hear all the whispers around him still.

Nothing happened, but a slow dark chuckling quietly filled the room. Harry could see Voldemort's shoulders shaking as he laughed. 

" _What_ exactly do you find funny about these charges, Mister Riddle?" Bones spat. She looked like she wanted to kill him with her bare hands then and there. 

"Does it matter?" He whispered, and everyone could hear the words clearly. "You all have your verdict already. You have attempted to kill me multiple times and have been unable to. Nothing that I say will make any difference." He finally looked up, straight into Harry's eyes. The split crimson vivid and burning even with all of the magic dampening cuffs they had put on him. Harry was entranced, unable to look away.

After a long moment he glanced back at Bones and Shacklebolt with contempt on his face. Managing to look regal even in his state. The defiant tilt of his chin made Bones face twist in fury. Percy looked ready to either piss himself or jump over the desk and stab his quill through Riddle's eye. Shacklebolt looked solemn and grim.

"You're right of course, Riddle." Shacklebolt said in his deep baritone. "However, we do have one last thing to try." He didn't smile and Harry felt ice in his veins. _No_. He knew this had been coming but still. "Tom Marvolo Riddle. You have been found guilty." They didn't even bother to ask for a vote, it was obvious that the trial was a forgone conclusion.

"Mister Potter." Shacklebolt turned to him where he was sitting a few seats back. "We are all aware that there was some sort of prophecy concerning you and this," His face twitched in disgust, "Man. Can you come down here? I know this is rather unorthodox for a trial, but in these times we do as we must." 

Harry's hands began to shake, and McGonagall who sat primly next to him on the bench reached over and squeezed his shoulder. Both of them stood, and walked down to the front. It took the old scottish witch a bit longer to follow, with her cane.

"Minerva," Shacklebolt started, "What can we do for you?" She gave a stubborn tilt of her chin. Her eyes like flint.

"Kingsley you cannot ask this of the boy. Asking him to do this will stain his soul. No one should be asked this especially a child." His face was dark, frowning slightly. Harry saw a flash of guilt in the man's eyes.

"Headmistress, we must all do our duty. I understand this is a terrible thing to ask of the boy-" While they were debating, McGonagall getting more and more angry next to him, and old vicious lion protecting her cub, Harry stared at Riddle.

Riddle stared back, and Harry thought he might see a tiny flash of fear in his unnaturally read eyes. But at the same time the man's lips quirked up at the corners, as though he knew Harry wouldn't be able to do it. Wouldn't be able to cast the curse that would kill him. Rage burned in the pit of his stomach at the amused look on the man's face. This monster had killed _so many good people_ and for what? A power trip? Just to set himself up on a towering pile of bodies with a crown made of bones and look down at the world and know that he was king of ashes and fire?

Harry scowled back, twisting around to listen to the fight still happening next to him. He thought frantically, as much as he loathed Voldemort, he knew he couldn't kill the man. Not anymore. And not with him looking like that. When the boy looked at Riddle's new visage all he could see was that hungry child.

What could he tell them to get out of this? Even if he could muster the hate to shoot an AK at Riddle, it wouldn't work. 

"Th' boy is jist barely ay age, Ah wulnae allow-" The Headmistress's voice was barely understandable at this point, her broge so thick in her anger.

"Minister," Harry interrupted. They both stopped and looked at him. "I-I-" he took a deep breath. "I can't do it." It was silent for a moment before Shacklebolt's face went stiff with anger. "No, listen, in order to cast that curse you have to _mean_ it and I just don't think I've ever hated anyone, even that _Monster_ enough to cast it." Thankfully they were under a silencing bubble or Harry thought the impatient crowd might have overrun the aurors and killed him instead of Riddle.

A hand squeezed his shoulder and he looked up into McGonagall's face. It was hard to tell exactly what she was feeling, but he thought she might be proud of him.

"Potter, Fred is DEAD because of him, my BROTHER-" McGonagall glared at her old student, who was so red in the face he looked like he might explode. "Does our family mean nothing to you?" He asked in a lower tone. Harry felt guilt wash over him and he closed his eyes.

"Your family means the world to me, Percy. But I still can't do it. I've never really wanted to kill anyone. Can't you understand?" He asked desperately. The redhead stared at him his face still red with anger. Percy shook his head looking at him in disgust and turned away staring off to the side. A little voice nagged in the back of his mind, _it's not like it didn't take your brother dying for you to realise your family meant something to you or anything..._ Clenching his jaw he turned back to Bones and Shacklebolt. 

"I can't do it. I _won't_ do it. I'm sure there are other options. Can't you just put him in a cell under Azkaban or something?" Bones looked torn, obviously approving of his refusal to kill anyone, even if it was Voldemort. Kingsley just looked stony, but nodded slowly.

"I suppose I understand, Potter. Yes. We will figure something out." 

And with that, Tom Marvolo Riddle was sentenced to live out his life in a undisclosed location, somewhere deep underground where no sun would reach, and no one would ever go. A living tomb heavily warded with ruines that the best of the Unspeakables had been able to come up with. His food was to be magically transferred to him, and no one was to have any way to access his cell.


	5. Chapter 5

Slowly, the world forgot about Voldemort. As people are wont to do with bad things they would rather forget. The Weasleys had Fred's funeral. It was a heart wrenching affair. Mr and Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Charlie, and Bill understood his decision to not kill the Dark Lord. Percy having watched his brother cut down did not. Ron was moody and angry, but eventually came around. George was silent and ghost like.

Hogwarts was rebuilt, and come September 1st it was ready for students again. There were still some things that needed work, but she was getting there. Harry had been offered a position with the Aurors, but had turned it down to complete his 7th year on Death's suggestion. The being had said he would regret not experiencing that last year with his classmates.

And he wasn't really sure if he wanted to go and fight more dark witches and wizards anyway. He thought he might try for something different, maybe a teacher or a healer...

And Ginny. Ginny was still there and still waiting. He knew she wouldn't wait long. But he still had things to work out, and she was still grieving. They had time. The future was looking up.

Harry smiled as he saw the castle from the carriage pulled by two large black winged thestrals. Yes there was plenty of time to figure everything out.

* * *

Harry was sitting in the Great Hall, sipping coffee which was just slightly below boiling temperature. The house elves were happy to accommodate his handful of odd food and drink requests. If he only really wanted to eat nearly raw meat and fruit, who were they to complain? Harry figured it was just another one of those odd things that came with his weird blood. Which were slowly but surely making themselves known.

Hey, at least he wasn't eating people's pets. _Yet._

The owls swooped in dropping letters and the Daily Prophet into people's laps and breakfasts. Hermione deftly caught her Prophet before it landed in her eggs, with the ease of many years of practice. 

She unrolled it, and Harry thought if she was capable of it her face may have gone white.

> **_BOY-WHO-REFUSED-TO-DEFEAT-THE-DARK-LORD?_**  
>  This reporter was given shocking news by a concerned citizen about an interaction between Harry Potter and our Interim Minister Shacklebolt at the trial of who is now known to be Tom Marvolo Riddle... 

Was emblazoned across the front page, along with a picture of him looking disgruntled from some point a few years earlier he didn't remember taking. The Prophet had been running articles recently mostly about the reconstruction of various magical sites. Riddle's incarceration had been triumphantly written about in the newspaper for a few days after the trial had ended, hardly a mention of Harry or anything to do with him being present. Side articles had popped up whenever a Death eater was captured, discussing their trial and what they had been found guilty of.

But this was new. 

Harry scowled.

"Someone talked." Harry spat. He had told Hermione about the trial after it had occurred and she had been very understanding and agreeable about how it all had gone. He had hoped that it was all over now, and maybe everyone would just _leave him be_ to finish his last year at Hogwarts. Apparently that wasn't the case.

The paper the curly haired girl was holding started to smoke and she dropped it before it caught on fire in her hands.

"Oh bloody, crap. Sorry Hermione." He deftly shot an _augmente_ at the burning parchment.

Hermione sighed and vanished her plate and the now ruined paper. "It's fine Harry, who do you think...?" Ron had mentioned in his last letter that Percy's fiancé, Penelope Clearwater, had died from extensive curse damage that the Healers at St. Mungo's had been unable to fix just a few days ago.

While Ginny had returned for her 7th year, Ron had decided to not come back and to stay with George helping him with the shop in his twin's absence.

They both had the same thought at the same moment. "Percy," they muttered in unison. 

"Bollocks." Harry muttered, rage and guilt again boiling in his stomach. It wasn't like it was _his_ fault Percy's fiancé had died. It wasn't like he didn't already feel horrible about everything, like he didn't have nightmares every night and wake up sweating and shaking, a scream caught in the back of his throat.

Hermione didn't even bother to correct his language. She just nodded. Harry shoved his plate away from him viciously and stormed out of the great hall, a black cloud following behind him. 

Hermione glanced up at the head table, and McGonagall met her eyes, her own jaw clenched and furious. Neither was quite sure what to do with what would likely be an astounding mess with Harry in the middle of yet again.

Hermione glanced over a Ginny to see what her reaction was and she looked torn. The girl had forgiven Harry for his choice, but she knew it had been hard on the red head. After all, the current version of Voldemort looked like a slightly older version of the boy who had tried and failed to steal her life and her soul.

Ginny seemed to come to a decision however, and jumped out of her seat to follow the fuming raven haired boy.

* * *

It was rather easy to follow the raging force of nature that was Harry Potter. Ginny almost turned back around and left him to his tantrum. She had to cast cooling charms on her feet and robes the stones were so hot. It looked like a great beast had raked it's claws over the walls. Suits of armor were huddling behind statues and paintings had run from their frames.

 _Really now_ , she thought, _this is a bit much, isn't it?_

But she was a Gryffindor, and had been putting up with Harry's sulking for years. Given it was never quite this _intense_...

The path of destruction ended in front of a door on the 7th floor, across from a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, who was currently hiding behind his trolls looking more scared out of his wits than barmy.

Ginny shook her head in exasperation, and took a deep steadying breath, straightening her shoulders. She couldn't hear anything from behind the door, but that didn't mean much.

The door didn't budge. Frustrated she banged on it a couple times but pulled her hand back quickly as the skin was scorched bright red with heat. Hissing in pain she kicked the door and cast a handful of unlocking charms that she knew. None of them worked, so in a huff she sat down across the hall under the tapestry to wait for Harry to calm down while she nursed her burnt hand.

* * *

Said angry wizard was currently engulfed in a firestorm screaming at the stone ceiling while his magic raged out of control around him. He could see the stones straining above him with the force of it, Hogwart's magic working to contain his fury.

 _Fucking unreliable capricious sheep!_ He was so tired, tired of not being able to just be Harry. The boy that never wanted to kill anyone. The boy that just wanted to love and be loved. The boy that Albus _fucking_ Dumbledore had as good as stuffed in a boot cupboard like an old pair of shoes until he needed him to fight his stupid war. 

With the release of the binds and the waring magic in him, his mind was so much clearer. All the various trials he had gone through over the years carefully set up just so. And he had done it all, hadn't he? Even if the Headmaster had been pushing him towards death and murder, he thought that he had followed the old codger's instructions better than even the man himself. After all, with his supposed super 'love' power or whatever rubbish, he had chosen to save an enemy from utter annihilation of his soul, in return giving up his chance to ever see his parents and godfather. 

_And what did Albus Dumbledore know about love, anyway?_ A voice nagged in the back of his mind. Who had Dumbledore ever loved? His sister? Grindelwald? Not Harry, that was for sure.

Harry continue to scream at the ceiling, all his rage and hurt pouring out of him. His body rippled, scales forming and disappearing. His pupils split and the whites of his eyes filled with an acid green. Feathers grew from his scalp in a crest and down his back. Pain seared through his body as his anger drew his creature attributes out. As his clothing burned off in the maelstrom of purifying phoenix fire, Harry collapsed to the ground sobbing.

Soon icy fingers carded through his scalp, and the fired waned. Hogwarts seemed to sigh in relief. Harry grasped a black airy robe, burying himself against a cold hard chest. Tears tracked down his face and were absorbed by the material as Death pulled him up and into his lap.

"Hush now, my little Master." Harry continued to sob brokenly, so much anger and grief at the world. Death murmured softly into inky hair, soothingly stroking cold hands up and down a back that was still too thin for his liking. They sat like this for a while, Harry's breathing eventually calming a bit as he hiccuped quietly. 

"Death, why do you..." The boy trailed off looking lost and sad. 

"Why do I what, little Master?" Looking down Harry shrugged, motioning vaguely towards the arms wrapped around him.

"Treat you kindly? Comfort you? Aid you when you need it?" Harry nodded his face still tilted down.

"I wouldn't think if I had a Master I would be happy about it. I just don't understand." The boy mumbled into the black robe. Death smiled a bit carding long fingers through his hair tenderly. 

"I exist because of you, Master. Without you I am nothing but a force of the universe. This shape is because it was what you expected of me. You give me definition and purpose beyond merely Death. And you are a compassionate Master. You could say you... created me in your own image." Harry stared up at him thinking hard.

"So you're kind to me because, uh. Because I am nice?" Death chuckled.

"I suppose you could put it that way yes. But also because you need me to be so, and so I am." 

"But..." Harry wasn't really sure how he felt about this. Did it make it real? If Death was only this way because _Harry_ was this way, what did that mean exactly? He wasn't really sure. Did it matter?

"Harry," Death murmured, and the brunette realised this was the first time he had ever heard the cosmic being speak his name, "Without you to define me I do not exist as such. It is not a terrible thing. It is something that I take great pleasure in and cherish." Harry studied the figure that was cradling him in it's lap for a few moments. If Death was happy, he supposed he could accept this, and leaned his head back into Death's shoulder. Thin fingers continued to gently groom his locks, and Harry shivered as they tugged lightly on something that felt odd against his scalp.

Reaching a hand up he touched his head and leaned back sharply with a gasp. That wasn't just his hair, those were-

Amused, Death spoke, "My little Master, you seem to have changed a bit more since I last visited you." 

"Wha- How huh-" Harry got frustrated trying to figure out what exactly was wrong with him this time. Looking around frantically, noting that what had once been an empty stone room looked almost _melted_. There were giant gouges in the walls made it seem as if someone had tried to keep a dragon caged in here at some point. But the thing that really caught his eye was how everything not just glittered, but nearly _glowed_ with multicolor sparks that looked like fire flies. It all moved in gentle swirling currents, healing the damage his magic had caused and reforming each stone.

It was one of the most strikingly beautiful things he had ever seen, and it distracted him for a few moments while he watched it work. But not for long enough to forget completely about his current distress.

A large floor length ornate mirror shimmered into existence next to him and Harry gasped. He had a crimson crest of feathers that blended into his messy black hair seamlessly without looking as silly as he thought it should. His eyes were an acidic green, a bit brighter than their normal color and missing the white part.

There was something weird about his jaw shape, prodding at his face carefully, he went to reach inside his mouth to see if he could feel what had changed. Death grasped his wrist gently stopping him from doing so.

"Careful, my Master. Here open your mouth wider." Harry did so and fangs snicked down from the roof of his mouth behind his normal still mostly human looking teeth. Harry choked in disbelief. What the-

Shocked he went to stand, and almost face planted into the mirror if the Death hadn't caught him. He had no bloody legs! How had he missed that! Twisting around trying to look at what had happened to him, he saw a long black glossy and elegantly scaled tail instead.

Trying not to freak out, he twisted and turned looking in the mirror. Death had released him to let him, well not quite _stand_ but well- balance or whatever weird freakish thing half snake creatures did.

The deep red feathers faded down his neck and merged seamlessly with a blood red diamond pattern that went down to the tip of his tail. What the bloody fucking hell had happened to him? Part of him purred at his image, his tail was strong and muscled, his feathers sleek and glossy. But the human bit-

Well. He also flushed bright red realising he had been somehow lying in Death's lap starkers. Death snickered behind him as if hearing his thoughts. Harry twisted a bit to scowl at him. Thankfully in this form all of his bits seemed to be hidden behind the large lighter colored horizontal stomach scales that melded seamlessly down his front fading from his pale skin tone to a more red hue towards the end of his tail.

Reaching up to grasp the edge of the mirror, he realised his nails were a sharp pointed charcoal color, and his Hallows mark was uncovered again. He studied them briefly taking in their apparent danger before leaning in closer to look at himself. His human side insisted on a running loop in the back of his mind _I'm a freak. I'm a freak, freak, FREAK_ and the boy looked away not able to stand the sight of himself anymore in the mirror. 

He did get a small bit of vindictive pleasure thinking about what his relatives would think of him now if he showed up at Privet Drive looking as he did now. Vernon might finally have a heart attack and Petunia would probably faint in shock and horror.

Groaning he grasped at his hair, tugging on it hard trying to calm down. This was all just too much for him to handle. 

"You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" Giving Death his best glare, which Death figured might have been legitimately frightening if he was mortal. But he wasn't, so he just nodded.

"This is where those metamorph abilities are going to assist you, my Master. While phoenixes are reborn repeatedly over their immortal lives, and basilisks shed their skin, neither can change their shape at will." Harry's eyes widened.

"Are you saying if I hadn't gotten so lucky as to be born with Black blood, I would have been STUCK like this?!" Death thought for a moment, looking off to the side and nodded. 

"There is indeed a version of your father that instead of being born to Charlus and Dorea Black, was instead born to Charlus' cousin Fleamont, who did not marry a Black. He, however, did not make the same choices you did, and as such never became immortal." Death turned back to look at him. "There are many many worlds master, many possible outcomes. Every choice we make that we could have made another way splits off into another version of our universe." Harry was lost at this point. He supposed he was just grateful to have Dorea Black as a grandparent. 

"Er," He scrunched up his face. Even if that made him related to Draco. And Bellatrix. He was so glad that bitch was dead.

"Master, perhaps we should attempt get you back to your more human appearance. You do still have classes today." _Ugh._ He cast a wandless tempus, realising he had missed his first class which had just been History of Magic and now he had a free period before lunch. 

"Alright. Yes. Good." Harry went to sit back on the floor and instead found himself on a large pillow Hogwarts must have conjured for him. He patted the ground affectionately before closing his eyes to concentrate. _No feathers, no scales, just Harry._ He thought about his scrawny self, pale but with human skin and human hair and human eyes. He tried to remember about what Hermione had told him about being sure of himself. _I'm Harry Potter, human. Just Harry._ His skin bubbled and shifted, and soon he had legs again. Which meant-

Harry flushed and covered himself. Death snickered at him, but waved his hand and his uniform and robes wrapped around his frame, his holy wand dropping into his pocket. Relieved, the green eyed boy stood and trainers formed over his feet. Checking himself in the mirror to make sure he had gotten everything, he noticed his nails, eyes, and tattoo were still not hidden. 

"Ugh why me?" he whined, again focusing on his human appearance. _Round eyes, normal nails, no tattoo. Come on Harry. Focus._ Blinking his eyes open he felt Death settle a pair of familiar frames on his nose.

"Very good, Master. Don't trouble yourself. Enjoy these moments, soon magic will be like breathing to you." Harry took a steadying breath, "Now, there is a redheaded female outside that has been impatiently waiting for you. I believe she wants to 'talk,' and your Hermione is starting to get worried." Harry groaned, the last thing he wanted to do after all of that was talk to Ginny. He felt hollowed out and spent. 

"I could just stay in here?" He asked hopefully. Death shook his head and nudged him towards the door. 

"You will be fine Master. As if I would ever let you be anything other." Resigned, the teen went to trudge towards the door, but quickly spun around and hugged the surprised being. Death wrapped his arms around his Master and gave him an affectionate squeeze. 

"Thank you. For everything." Harry mumbled into his chest.

"Of course, Master, any time." Ruffling the mess on the boys head he released him and stepped back. "Goodbye, my Master." He bowed shortly and then was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also if you want to talk to me on tumblr I'm [dust-factory](https://dust-factory.tumblr.com/) :)


	6. Chapter 6

When Harry, exhausted both mentally and magically, exited the RoR to find Ginny sitting on the floor fiddling with her red locks and tapping on her thigh in an impatient manner, he wasn't exactly thrilled. Even though he knew she would be there.

She glanced up at him, annoyed. He knew he used to love that, the contrast of her pale red lashes against her brown eyes especially when they burned with that fire. Maybe he was just emotionally gutted and had no room currently for other feelings. His smile was a weak imitation of what it once had been when looking at her.

"Done with your tantrum?" She asked sharply, "I've been waiting for hours, Harry. We need to talk." He sighed. 

"I don't know if right now is the best time to have this conversation, Gin. I'm not feeling very well." She glanced down the hallway at the gouges in the walls that had marked his path through the halls, and then back at him with a raised eyebrow. 

Harry flushed a bit, embarrassed at the complete loss of his control. He hadn't meant to do that to Hogwarts. He was glad that no one had gotten hurt however.

"You've been avoiding me all summer. We need to talk about this at some point. I understand that with everything that's happened you have a lot on your plate. But I want to help you, Harry. Please let me help you?" Green eyes looked down at the stones, hiding his face under his fringe.

"I- I don't know if you can Ginny. It's hard to explain, but dying and coming back had some, uh.." He stumbled over his thoughts, not really wanting to tell anyone that now he was an immortal creature of some kind and the Master of Death. Besides maybe Hermione, who already knew most of it. 

Her eyes flashed in irritation. "Harry, I'm trying to be understanding here. But it's been _months_ since then. I need to know where we stand. I'm not going to wait for you forever." She took a deep breath, running fingers through her hair, glancing up at him, "Just, please, do we have a chance? Do you still have feelings for- for me?"

Harry traced her face with his eyes, the stubborn jaw, the silky red hair. The set of her mouth. How her fists clenched and her eyes welled with tears. Trying to find something inside of himself for this girl that he knew he had, or rather, thought he had been in love with. There was an echo of something but it didn't bring the same warm flush to his cheeks and the sweat to his palms and the stutter to his breath like it had a year ago. 

"I-" His voice cracked, and he glanced away over her shoulder. Her jaw clenched and her lip trembled. "I- just, maybe? I don't know Ginny I-" She scrubbed her eyes but she didn't cry. She had always been rather tough like that. Six older brothers would do that to a girl.

"Is it.." She coughed a little bit, "Is it because of Riddle?" She whispered. 

Shocked he shouted, "WHAT, no what? Riddle- why would you think that?" She smiled at him bitterly.

"Harry, you forget I met him too. He can be very very charming and he's not exactly bad looking. If anyone could understand it would be me. I just thought, maybe after you couldn't kill him that..." His eyes hardened, and he glared at her. 

"That I what, couldn't end it because of- of- some _crush?_ After everyone he murdered? After he killed my parents? After _Sirius?_ " His magic began to bubble again, rising off him like heat waves. Ginny took a step back, eyes wide.

"Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to suggest, well, I mean, you've always been a bit erm," She glanced away for a moment her cheeks pink. "Well, erm."

"What Gin? What have I always been?" He asked still seething. 

"Well I've seen you look at some of the boys, and you've never been all that interested in girls besides Cho and I. And well, I just figured you might be a bit, erm, well, bent." She glanced back at him still blushing. "Not- um, not that I care. It's fine! I swear. But I figured maybe..." Harry could feel his face heat. He had caught himself sometimes staring at other boys, and usually did his best to forget it ever happened. He was sort of aware that the Wizarding world had a much more lenient stance on stuff like that then the Muggle world. That didn't mean he had any urge to have it plastered all over the Prophet.

Hermione had sat him down a few years back and given him the 'talk.' Ugh, that had been rather unpleasant and he didn't want to ever think about it again.

Both of them blushing furiously and pointedly not looking at each other, Ginny coughed. "I just wanted to let you know if you ever needed to talk about anything, even _Him_ I'm happy to listen. I would understand. And Harry?" He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, "I'm sorry about my prat of a brother. He shouldn't have tattled on you to the Prophet." The raven haired teen sighed, running a hand through his messy locks. 

"It's not your fault, Gin. I'm mad, but I guess I understand, what with Fred and then Penelope. It's just going to cause a mess." He stared at the floor for a while blankly. "And I think with us I just, I just can't, right now. I don't know if it's because you say I'm maybe a bit erm," He fiddled with the sleeve of his robe, "Well, yeah. You know. _That_ , or uh yeah." He shuffled his feet nervously, he felt bad he did. But he just couldn't do it. Whatever had been there wasn't anymore, and he respected Ginny too much to force it. He braced himself waiting for the explosion, and glanced up at her under his lashes.

She didn't look mad really, just sad and resigned, with a little bitter twist to her lips. "Can we still be friends?" He asked in a small voice. 

"Of course, Harry. We'll always be friends. I'm just going to need some time." She reached out and hugged him tightly. He buried his face in her hair inhaling the scent of the Hogwarts issue soap and shampoo along with the undertone that was just Ginny.

After a couple seconds she pulled back, smiling at him sadly. "Lunch?" His stomach gurgled loudly, and he blushed again. 

"Yes, lunch."

* * *

They walked in silence to the Great Hall for lunch, and when they reached the Gryffindor table Ginny split off with an awkward little wave to sit with her friends. Harry slumped down next to Hermione who gave him a quizzical look. 

Thankfully she didn't lecture him for missing History of Magic, but he could tell she wanted to. "Are you feeling better?" Harry nodded a bit. "And you and Ginny...?" 

"I guess we uh," Harry sighed, "We broke up." Hermione glanced over at Ginny who was sitting farther down the table. 

"Oh, Harry," She wrapped her arms around him in a tight sideways hug. "Honestly I'm not surprised." He jerked back from her shocked.

"What! Why not?" 

She gave him a flat look. "Well, you don't really like girls much, do you?" 

" _What- How the bloody hell do you all know this when I didn't even realise it until an hour ago?_ " He whispered furiously, glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention to them. The bushy haired girl just shook her head exasperated. 

"Harry." He had spent way too much time blushing today, he thought.

" _What!_ " 

"Harry, it's fine, you remember what we talked about in fifth year when I explained the difference between Muggle and Wizarding perception on homosexual relationships and preferences don't you?" How could he forget. He'd spent the entire lecture beet red. 

"Why exactly do you think I went out of my way to explain all of that to you?" She asked, her eyebrows lifted in a knowing look. He sputtered not knowing how to respond.

"You mean you knew? But erm, I mean, uh... Can we just... Not talk about this right now? _Especially here?_ " He hissed under his breath. She squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. 

"Sure Harry." Smiling slightly she nudged a platter of beef wellington towards him in a not so subtle manner. Relieved that seemed to be over, the green eyed youth took the excuse given and piled his plate with food and quickly began to eat. He was starving anyway.

* * *

They had DADA next, given that the position was still lacking a teacher until McGonagall could find someone, Hermione and him went outside to enjoy the one of the last warm days of summer. Harry couldn't stand the angry whispering and glances after the article, so they went and sat near the lake.

"Who do you think McGonagall is going to get for Transfiguration and Defence?" Harry asked absently. "She has enough on her plate, I doubt she's going to be able to teach and be head of Gryffindor anymore."

"Oh, well, I heard that she was going to bring in a curse breaker to see if they couldn't discover what was wrong with the DADA position first. I understand that she didn't want to go through finding a new teacher each year." _Smart_ , Harry thought. _Why hadn't Dumbledore thought of that?_

"And she's still our head of house until she finds someone to take over that for her. I don't know who the new Transfiguration Professor is yet, I didn't see anyone new at breakfast. We have it tomorrow morning, so I assume we'll find out then." 

"Oh! I forgot, I got your History of Magic notes for you, here I made you a copy." Harry groaned, and the bookworm scowled at him. "Harry! This is your NEWTs year, you promised you would study hard this year." Hermione rifled around in her bag, pulling out a couple of scrolls. Harry took them reluctantly and took a cursory glance at them.

"Thanks, 'Mione. You're the best."

* * *

The next morning there were indeed a couple new people at the head table. Bill Weasley and Fleur were sitting side by side chatting quietly with each other. Harry gave them a little wave as they came in and they waved back with a smile.

"Well I suppose that solves that mystery. I'm guessing Bill is here to see about the Defence curse." 

"Yes I suppose so, I wonder what Fleur is doing here then?" Hermione wondered. 

Harry shrugged, "Let's go ask them." The duo walked up to the table together, but as they got closer to pair the two started to look a bit confused. Bill's eyebrows scrunched in confusion and Fleur tilted her head curiously.

"'Arry eet eez good to see you, 'ow 'ave you been?" Bill continued to study him closely, searching his face for something. The Gryffindor tilted his head in a questioning way before turning to the french witch.

"As well as can be expected, I suppose. And you?" 

"Ai 'ave been good. 'Arry, zere eez zumtheng... Deeferent about you." Hermione nudged tapped his temple next to his eyes. Which he knew were still hidden since his vision was not that great currently. However he knew that with Bill's wolfish tendencies and Fleur's veela heritage there was likely something the pair were sensing.

"Oh, erm, yes. That. Well, we can talk about that later. It's just something that happened after the battle. Not that big of a deal." Bill nodded accepting his answer for now. Fleur continued to eye him but seemed to decide to wait until later to question him. 

"Not that big of a deal. Ha." The curly haired witch muttered under her breath. Harry elbowed her in the ribs and she rolled her eyes. 

Hermione spoke up, "We just wanted to see what you two were doing at Hogwarts, I had heard that the Headmistress called in a curse breaker for the Defence position?" Bill nodded and his face cleared a bit. 

"Yes, it always interested me when I was in school. It was one of the reasons I decided to go into curse breaking in the first place, actually." Hermione's eyes lit up and Harry could see that the girl wanted to ask a million questions. He put a hand on her arm, smiling. 

"Later 'Mione. We still have to eat breakfast, remember?" She harrumphed but nodded grudgingly. "And you, Fleur?" 

"Oh, well Fleetweek needed an asseestent for zee Charm's position since 'e eez taking on zee Deputy 'Eadmaster position. Ai offaired my asseestance." Her smile caused a few of the boys at the nearby tables to swoon a bit, and Bill grabbed her hand under the table squeezing it.

"That's great, Fleur! We have Charms later today after Transfiguration, so I suppose I'll see you then?" She nodded, while smiling at Bill and squeezing his hand back.

Hermione smiled at the two before tugging Harry towards their table and waving at the pair, "See you later!"

* * *

They stood outside the Transfiguration classroom with the rest of Gryffindor and Slytherin, which after the war were much subdued. Malfoy, who had decided to return for his 7th year as well, was decidedly quiet. Harry knew both of his parents were facing trials for being Death Eaters, and felt a small amount of pity for the pale Heir. He looked a bit healthier this year, not having an insane snake-faced monster breathing down his neck, but not by much.

Harry turned away from his contemplation to look at his best friend, who was tapping her foot impatiently and bouncing a bit in excitement. Finally the door to the classroom opened and they filed in. The teacher had her back to the class, scrawling something on the chalkboard, but Harry recognized her thick curly chestnut hair.

"Mrs. Tonks!" Hermione nearly squealed. The lady in question turned around and gave the two of them a rather worn looking smile. Physically she looked perfect, but Harry could nearly smell the glamours on her.

"Hello you two, it's good to see you." She reached out to hug the both of them, and if it lasted a little bit too long, neither of them said anything.

"Where's Teddy, Mrs. Tonks?" Harry asked curiously.

"I told you to call me Andromeda, Harry. But, for now Professor will do fine." She ran fingers through her hair, being careful not to mess it up, and smoothed invisible wrinkles from her robe. She looked quite a bit like Bellatrix, but with a bit lighter coloring and more, well, _sane_. "He's here, Ted is staying on as the new Muggle Studies professor. Minerva was thoughtful enough to loan us one of the Hogwarts elves to help care for him while we were teaching. She thought it would be a good distraction from-" She choked up a bit, but only for a second. "Well from that."

Hermione patted her arm in a comforting manner and Andromeda gave her a tight smile.

"Thank you dear, you're both welcome to come by after class and see Teddy if you would like and have a cuppa." Harry smiled at her gratefully, he hadn't gotten to see his little godson yet and the thought warmed him.

"Yes, I think that would be great. Thanks Professor."

"Any time, Harry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I was totally going to have Harry get with Ginny, but I just couldn't make myself do it. Oh well.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know technically Ted Tonks was caught by snatchers and killed, but hey. This is an AU, so we're just gonna pretend that never happened. K?

They had charms with Ravenclaw, and Luna was there smiling in her dreamy way. She had a rainbow patchwork skirt on under her robes, and a headband with butterbeer bottle caps stuck across it in a row. She sat herself down beside Harry and Hermione with a careless sort of grace. Her blond hair nearly reached the back of her knees and she had grown into a sort of ethereal beauty.

The interesting attire only added to her look.

"Luna, hey!" Harry grinned at her, always happy to see the mystery that was Luna Lovegood.

"Hello Harry. Hello Hermione." Her eyes wandered towards the front of the room, where Fleur was sitting behind the desk today. She waved happily at the quarter veela, who smiled back at her.

Again, over half the class swooned. Harry could see this becoming a problem. The French witch seemed to be very practiced in ignoring the effect she had on most of the male population (and some of the females). 

As the last students filed into the classroom, she stood from her desk and waved her wand to shut the door.

"Bonjour class, I am Fleur Weasley, but you may addrez me as Madam Weasley or Asseestent Profezair Weasley. I weehl be 'elping Profezair Flitwik wiv 'is lezons zis year, as 'e 'as taken on zee Deputee Headmastair posishion. Since zis eez your NEWTs year, we weehl begin by reviewing what you 'ave previouslee lairned." She turned with an elegant swirl to her light blue robes, and flicked her wand at the board, which filled with neat slanted script.

Harry, Hermione, and Luna studiously began taking notes, however a good portion of the class continued to drool in an unseemly fashion.

When Fleur noticed this, her face became an interesting mixture of resigned and irritated, as though she was used to this reaction. However, it was quickly replaced with anger.

Harry waited curiously to see what she would do, as he knew Fleur could be very vicious when she wanted to be. Her face contorted and she snapped her wand in a zigzag that ended in a whip like motion. All the students that had failed to write down her instructions in lieu of staring in a lustful sort of daze jumped as if they had been burnt. Their skin turned various mottled shades of purple and dull orange. Bright pink spots dotted over their clothing making a rather garish sight.

Fleur, still very irritated looking, but with a glint of satisfaction in her light blue eyes, twirled her wand. Harry thought she might have gained a bit more from the Weasleys than just a last name. A couple of the students that hadn't been hexed, snickered.

"Now, from zee ones zat waire not conducting zemselvez een a respectable mannair, I expect two feet on propair conduct toward your profezairs, at which point I weehl remove zee 'ex. If we may continue..."

* * *

When the class was over Hermione and Harry stayed behind to wait for the rest of the students to leave, many of them grumbling about the hex. Luna waved chearfully to them, skipping out of the room and called over her shoulder "I'll see you both on Saturday!" before she was gone.

They glanced at each other confused, before shrugging. Luna was Luna.

When the last student had left, the blond witch flicked her wand to once again shut the door. Harry grinned unabashedly.

"Fleur, that hex you used was brilliant!" Hermione looked a bit torn between a teacher punishing their students in such a way but being unable to suppress her glee at the well deserved revenge for treating a fellow witch with so little respect. Eventually she cracked smiled a bit and nodded in agreement.

"Yes, I cannot believe they would act so immature. We are nearly adults! It is unacceptable!" She stomped her foot a bit in anger.

"I am glad you enjoyed eet. Eet was not zee first group zat I 'ave 'ad to 'ex, unfortunately." She looked tired for a moment, her eyes glazing a bit. 

"Hey, don't worry. I'm sure after that they'll get it through their thick heads. You can be pretty scary when you want to." The green eyed teen comforted. He empathized with her. After all, being judged on something that you couldn't control while having very few people that bothered to look deeper wasn't anything new to him.

"Merci, 'Arry. You are both very sweet." She rubbed her eyes for a moment, before glancing back up at him. "Would you like to 'ave tea with William and I tonight aftair class? Of course you are also invited, 'Ermione."

"I'm sorry, Fleur, Harry and I were invited to visit with the Tonkses tonight and meet Teddy. Perhaps tomorrow?" She glanced over at Harry and he nodded in affirmation.

"Oui, zat should be fine, I zink William 'as almost broken zee Defence curse also. Eet 'as been good for 'im to 'ave a project to focus on."

"Oh that's _brilliant_ I have so many questions I want to ask him!" Hermione squealed and her curls bounced with her. Harry shook his head affectionately, before snagging her elbow.

"You can ask all of your questions tomorrow, 'Mione. C'mon we have one more class before dinner. See you later Fleur! Good luck with your other classes!" The said their goodbyes and hurried out of her room so as not to be late.

* * *

The dark haired Gryffindor duo knocked on Andromeda's door after dinner had ended. 

"Come in!" A male voice called from inside. They opened the door and were met with the sight of a rotund towheaded man with a giggling baby strapped to the front of him. Ted Tonks had lost some weight and aged from the war, but the grin he gave them lit up his face and removed years from his visage. He motioned them into the small sitting room, "Harry, Hermione. Welcome. Come, come. Sit down, 'Dromeda is just making some tea." 

The curly headed girl took no time in rushing over to coo at the little boy who reached out and grasped one of her bouncing locks in his wet slobbery hands.

"Hello Mr. Tonks, it's good to see you again." The green eyed teen greeted, following Hermione at a slightly more sedated pace.

"Nonsense, Harry. Call me Ted."

"Oh goodness, he's just the sweetest little thing, isn't he?" Hermione was smitten. Harry grinned down at his godson, who's hair shifted from a vibrant teal mop to decent imitation of his own uncontrollable black locks. His eyes burned, and his heart twisted. He didn't know if he'd ever loved anything quite as much at first sight as he loved little Teddy Lupin.

"Would you like to hold your godson, Harry?" The man asked, already moving to shift him out of his baby sling which had little wolf pups jumping and playing all over it. 

"Oh, yes, err-" Harry stuttered, reaching out to hold the baby but instantly freezing with fear that he might do something wrong. He was so tiny! 

Hermione, however, always one to save the day, was there to show him how. She helped him settle on the couch and sat beside him. "Here, see, hold your hand behind his head, you have to support his neck, and, yes, there you go! You're a natural Harry!" Staring into the little boy's wide eyes, currently the amber gold of Remus, Harry choked up and tried to swallow around the lump in his throat. A little tendrel of cyan magic reached out and twined with his own, flashing briefly before settling. 

"What was that!" Harry gasped, as a subtle warmth infused his chest. 

Andromeda smiled warmly at him, "That was the god-bond Harry. You hadn't met Teddy yet so it hadn't had time to form. Nymphadora and Remus named you Godfather using a traditional old magic ritual." He shook his head in wonder, and turned back down to the little boy in his arms. His creature purred in the back of his mind with a deep contentment and dark vicious protective instinct. He finally had found something that he would kill for.

"Hey, Teddy," He whispered, nuzzling his face gently into the little boy's cheek who screeched with laughter, "I'm your Godfather. It's nice to meet you." Teddy's response was to blow a spit bubble and smack his lips with a wide toothless grin.

Hermione subtly wiped her eye with the corner of her sleeve, and glanced up to see Andromeda and Ted watching Harry, also with suspiciously wet eyes. She cleared her throat, sniffling a bit.

"How old he he now, Professor Tonks?" Andromeda blinked a couple of times, smiling at her.

"It's Andromeda, dear. And Teddy is six months old now." Harry was completely engrossed with the baby, wiggling his fingers and making silly faces at him. Hermione hadn't seen him this happy in, well. Actually she couldn't remember. She was glad the Tonkses had come to Hogwarts this year, she thought that Harry could use this.

"Yes of course, Pro- Andromeda. How are classes going?" The older lady tapped her wand on the edge of the tea set, and the pot began to pour each of them cups of steaming fragrant liquid. Hermione reached out with a thankful smile to sip her mug.

"They are going very well, thank you Hermione. I do have a few things planned this year that should keep it interesting. I've always been a fair hand at Transfiguration, so it's a wonderful opportunity to get to teach it. It tends to run in our family." She glanced at the petite black haired teen, as Teddy let out a happy giggle and his skin shifted to a bright pink. Her lips twisted in a slightly bemused smile at her grandson and his happily laughing godfather.

Ted slung an arm around his wife, and leaned over to peck her on the temple. A very light pink tinged her high cheek bones.

"That's my 'Dromeda, a fair hand my arse!" She smacked her husband playfully.

"Ted! Language!"

He leaned over the table and whispered in a conspiratory tone, "She may not have had the same Metamorph magic that our 'Dora and Teddy have, but you would never know it. An animagus by 16 she was!" Hermione gasped, chocolate eyes wide with wonder.

"Wow Pr- Andromeda, that's an amazing feat of magic! What's your form if you don't mind me asking?" 

"I'm a dolphin, specifically a Tucuxi river dolphin, which is capable of both salt and fresh water travel, which was especially convenient for practicing here in the Black Lake while I was going to school." 

"Maybe sometime you could show us?" The teenage bookworm's eyes were wide and hopeful. Andromeda's eyes twinkled with amusement at the girl's enthusiasm. 

"Yes, perhaps. In fact, I was planning to offer you and Harry an perhaps a couple others animagus lessons. I know you especially Hermione, are likely a bit bored with the curriculum with how intelligent you are." Hermione's dark cheeks went a deep maroon color with the praise. "And... Even though the war is technically over, there are still Death Eaters and sympathisers out there. It may save your lives one day."

Harry glanced up at her, with a more solemn look on his face, and if his arms tightened protectively around his godson a bit no one said anything.

"I think that would be a great idea, Andromeda. I probably need to mention something that happened to me recently..." Harry hesitated, reluctant to bring anyone else in on his secret. Looking down, Teddy had yawned widely, all tuckered out from playing with his godfather and was drooling on his robes. Not that he minded one bit. 

Ted stood to take the baby from him gently, and something flared up inside him. He almost bared his fangs at the man before realising what he was about to do. "Here, let me put Teddy down, it's his bed time now anyway." The small child was transferred to his grandfather, with only a small whine, who took him into the adjoining bedroom and closed the door to give them some privacy.

"I, well, something happened to me after Voldemort attempted to kill me." He took a deep breath, "I need this to stay between us, Hermione already knows most of it. But I don't want it getting out, especially after that Prophet article this morning." Andromeda's face was solemn, her intelligent eyes calculating. Sometimes it was easy to forget she was a Black. Other times it was so obvious he wondered how anyone thought otherwise.

"Of course, I understand Harry. Would you like an oath?" He studied her, and slowly shook his head. 

"No, I trust you. That's fine." She nodded silently. Hermione twined her dark fingers through his pale ones and gave his hand a supportive squeeze.

"I well, I had some latent Metamorph abilities that were suppressed by Dumbledore. My grandmother was a Black, and they've helped a great deal with what happened after Voldemort killed me." He shuddered, thinking about the old fool, but pushed the feelings of anger back. Andromeda didn't in any way seem surprised by his statement, and he remembered that she was also once a Slytherin.

"Yes, I never much trusted Dumbledore. The way that he generally acted towards Slytherin, my cousin's lack of trial, and leaving you with Muggles when you still had blood family never settled right with me. But we're getting off topic. What happened after You-Know-Who tried to kill you?" 

Harry pushed up his sleeve to show her the round circle scar he still had from fighting the Basilisk in second year. And then he went on to explain what had happened with the serpent biting him and the phoenix tears. She stayed silent during the entire thing, taking in what he told her with a slowly darkening look on her face.

"And I had it explained to me by-" He coughed deciding to leave out the bit about him being the immortal Master of Death, "Someone. That the bit of _His_ soul in me had held the the venom and tears in check and now that it wasn't there to do it anymore it changed me." Her eyes widened in horror and shock.

"I think, I will give you my oath after all Harry. Something like that, 'bits of soul' as you say, that's very very black magic." She paused and drew her wand from a holster in her sleeve and crossed it over her chest. "I, Andromeda Cassiopeia Tonks née Black do hereby swear to not reveal anything that Harry James Potter tells me in confidence relating to Tom Marvolo Riddle or events that occurred resulting from the attempted murder of Harry James Potter on the night of the Battle of Hogwarts, May 2, 1998. _So mote it be_." Silver strands of magic wrapped tightly around her before sinking under her skin.

She nodded tightly, "This will protect all of us. It is better if I am not able to speak of it even if forced." Wide eyed, Harry nodded in acceptance. 

"Thank you Andromeda. That means a lot to me." Hermione squeezed his hand again and nodded as well. The older witch took a deep breath.

"Please continue." Harry shifted nervously.

"Well, the reason I tell you is because I'm worried I may not be able to do an animagus transformation. I'm not exactly... Human, anymore." He coughed. "Perhaps it's better if I just erm, show you." He flushed in embarrassment realising he was going to have to remove his trousers and pants, or risk destroying them when his tail formed. "Erm, yes, hang on. I can't transform with all of my clothing on, or yeah, errr..." Hermione snickered at him.

"Are you a wizard or not, Harry? Goodness." She flicked her wand, conjuring a barrier for him to disrobe behind.

"Thanks, 'Mione." Her sighed in relief, moving over to tug his garments off. He left them in a pile but decided to leave his robe on. He felt weird being completely naked even if his creature form hid everything. 

Focusing on his form, it was much easier to shift into it then out of it. Everything flowed like water being released from a dam, and he sighed in relief. Parts of him relaxed he hadn't even realised were tense. He shook out his hair and feathers, and stretched his arms over his head, before slinking from behind the barrier. 

Honestly he was somewhat terrified by what the two witches might think of him. He tried to square his shoulders and dig some of that Gryffindor bravery out of his gut that he knew he had somewhere. He wasn't sure he quite managed it, instead he studied the pattern on the large throw rug under the little coffee table studiously. 

So engrossed in the thing, he jerked in shock when warm arms wrapped tightly around him and a massive fuzzy pile of hair clogged his nose. His instinctive reaction had been to bear his fangs again, and so he got a huge mouthful of the dark curls at the same time. _Well, I guess it's useful as a protective measure too_. He snickered a bit internally, which helped him calm down enough to hug his best friend back.

Still choking on her hair, he slowly pulled back from the embrace, shifting his hands to hold the girl's shoulders instead. He still avoided looking at Andromeda, not quite sure what her reaction might be.

"Oh goodness, Harry! Look at you! You're- you're-" Wide brown eyes stared at him.

"A freak?" He muttered under his breath, and the witch tensed. 

"NO! Harry, you know how I hate when you call yourself that. You are NOT a freak. You're gorgeous, I've never seen anything like you!" Her cheeks tinted a bit realising what she had said, but the fascinated look in her eyes didn't dim. 

She reached out and snagged one of his hands, studying the light scattering of flesh colored black scales on one of his forearms and the charcoal pointed fingernails. The green eyed teen was relieved to note he had managed to keep his Hallows tattoo hidden even after releasing the transformation.

Soft exploring fingers wove through his black wild locks, examining his ears and hair and blood red feather crest that ran down the center. 

"Your ears seem to be a bit pointed, and your speech is a little different. She prodded his jaw experimentally. "Do you have venom?" He opened his mouth wide enough to let the fangs snick down from the roof, before closing it again. 

"I haven't tested it, but I assume so." Hermione was nearly vibrating with excitement.

"Oh Harry, this is such a great opportunity! I have so many questions! Oh- Just!" She wandered around him, lifting up the back of his robe to peek down the back of it.

"Hermione! Hey!" Realising maybe that had been a bit inappropriate, she instantly stopped.

"Oh goodness, sorry. That was probably a little bit not good. You know me, I just can't help myself." He sighed. As she was examining his tail, running fingers over the scales in an entranced manner and making him shiver, he finally gained the courage to look at Andromeda. 

Thankfully, the older witch didn't seem mad or frightened or disgusted by him. She did look a bit shocked, but seemed to be patiently waiting for his friend to finish her inspection. Finally she seemed to be finished and they both took a seat back on the couch, Harry still shifting uncomfortably and attempting to cover as much of his tail with his robe as he could.

Andromeda studied him and finally shook her head. "I'm sorry, Harry, honestly, I'm not really sure if this will affect your ability to become an animagus or not. Not every witch or wizard can become one in the first place, and there's not a way to know until after you go through the process of attempting it to find out."

He let out a breath, disappointed.

"There isn't a spell or anything to test...?" She shook her head.

"It's part of the reason why so many wixen don't even bother to attempt it. It's a difficult and painstaking process, and many don't even bother with the chance that it may not be worth it in the end. It is up to you. I am willing to assist you both if you wish however." 

Harry thought about it, knotting his fingers together in an subconscious gesture. He glanced over at Hermione who seemed to be barely holding her excitement in, nearly vibrating with it. Obviously she was willing to try no matter the outcome. He grinned at her, before looking back at the older witch.

"I think, even if it doesn't work, I'd still like to try. For my dad, and Sirius." 

"And you Hermione?"

"Yes! Yes, of course. Thank you Professor!" The older witch chuckled at the girl's enthusiasm. 

"Of course. I'm going to ask a few more to join us, and we will begin this Saturday as it's the next full moon, and we will start the process. I would like to warn you now, there will likely be a couple Slytherins in our group. Will that cause any issues?" Her gaze was sharp, and while Harry scrunched his nose a bit, they both shook their heads. 

"No, Ma'am." They chorused. 

"Alright. Meet me here in the evening and we will begin."


	8. Chapter 8

Harry's talk with Bill and Fleur went as well as could be expected. They both seemed happy to understand exactly what they had been sensing from him, and less on edge. Fleur also being a creature that was part firebird especially appreciated his red plumage, grooming it with careful fingers and cooing at him in half french over how gorgeous it was. 

They also let it slip that part of the reason they had been so wary in the first place was that they had recently discovered that Fleur was 6 weeks pregnant with their first child. He couldn't blame them for their protective instincts, and wondered how he hadn't noticed before. The quarter-veela witch was nearly glowing.

And to top it off, Bill Weasley had been offered the Defence position, so they were both staying.

Or at least, that's what Harry had discerned between all the technobabble that Hermione and Bill were shooting back and forth in a rapid volley at each other over his discoveries when it came to breaking the curse on the position.

"Yes yes! It was absolutely genius! The compulsion wards were so subtle that it was nearly impossible to find the arithmantic zero-point for the energy focus. He had built it into a seemingly random number of stones, that were near or around the Defence classroom and private rooms the Professor was most likely to use!" Bill's face was flushed with excitement, waving his hands about in the air to emphasise his points to Hermione.

While he was happy for his friends, he had almost no idea what they were talking about. 

"But, how did he do it? For something to have had such longevity it would have need a inconservative foci that could be recharged..."

"That's just it! The stones weren't random, they were calculated off an obscure Egyptian method used to pull magic from ley lines beneath pyramids to power curses and protections for centuries, I don't even know how he got his hands on something like that. The amount of effort that went into it would have take me at least a year and a half to come up with, let alone implement."

"A year and a half!" She gasped, "But that means he had to have done it while he was still in school! He wasn't denied the Defence position seriously until years later!"

"Yes, I assume he foresaw it happening, and left a sort of trigger behind to switch it on." He turned to Harry who at this point was nearly purring half asleep in Fleur's lap, "You said he came back a decade after he graduated to ask for the job, right Harry?" One slit green eye cracked open to glance at the ginger.

"I'm sorry what?" Hermione just huffed and rolled her eyes. Bill looked amused.

"She's never going to let you get away now that she has someone else with feathers to groom. I think you're stuck, mate." Harry flicked his tail at the man, swatting him playfully. 

Fleur huffed indignantly and flicked a spark at her husband. 

"'ush, William." The teen was far too relaxed to bother responding, closing his eyes again.

With the happy chatter in the background and fingers running through his hair it was easy to drift. He realised the number of people that knew about his creature had increased to four, not including Death. (Was Death even a person? Entity? Being? Force of the Universe? Hm. And Luna. Who always seemed to know more then she should.) All of them he would trust with his life. The war had destroyed so many, it was good to have friends that he knew would support him.

The longer he lay against Fleur's legs, with his ear pressed against her stomach that hadn't started to swell yet, he realised he could _hear_ the new life growing in her. Her own aura crackled like a warm hearth fire, but with the edge of danger that said it could easily rage out of control like unchecked fiendfyre. But under that there was a little bubble of something extra that tasted like new life and smelled like petrichor and ozone. 

It was soothing and Harry realised he was humming a tune with no specific melody to the slight rhythmic thu-thump of the barely there yet aura. Fleur mad a quite trilling noise in the back of her throat, before glancing down at him.

"'Arry? What iz zat?" Hermione and Bill had paused again to look over at him. His face flushed at the attention.

"Er, sorry?" He wasn't really sure how to explain what he had been doing exactly.

"Non! Eet was very pretty! How do you say, eet was almost, familiar? I zink my veela recognised eet." 

"I think I was, well, that's to say erm." His cheeks pink he stuttered, "I can sort of, _hear_ the baby."

"Hear the baby? Harry the fetus is only the size of a bean right now!" Hermione's brows were furrowed in confusion, "That really shouldn't be possible." He sat up finally, moving out of the french witch's lap. 

"Er, maybe hear isn't quite the right word. Sense? Smell? I'm not really sure. She's got an aura that smells like the earth after a rainstorm." He scrubbed his face in confusion. When he peaked at her, her eyes were wide and her fingers were splayed over her stomach.

"She?" Fleur whispered in awe.

"I- uh. Yes?" Something made him think it was a little girl, he wasn't really sure how he knew.

The platinum haired female threw herself off the couch and into her husband's arms with a cry.

"William! Une petite fille! Oh!" She was nearly sobbing, tears streaking down her face in happiness. Bill wrapped his arms tightly around her burying his face in her hair. The ginger glanced up at them both a watery ear splitting grin on his face.

Harry felt a bit uncomfortable watching the moment, like maybe it was time to go. He glanced at Hermione and went to stand so that he could change back into his human form in their bathroom. When he was done Hermione was waiting for him by the door, apparently having had the same idea.

"Thanks guys! We were happy to see you, let's do it again soon!" Bill waved at them, still petting his wife's hair while she clutched at him.

Hermione tugged on his hand and the both said their goodbyes leaving the couple to themselves.

* * *

The Gryffindor duo had secluded themselves in a back corner of the library, Hermione to do her work and Harry mostly to get away from the stares and whispers that had been stirred back up by the article. Most people had left him alone, but there had been a few sneers and insults shouted at him by various students. Some of the teachers didn't seem very happy with him either.

His best friend prodded him in the side.

"Harry! Stop daydreaming we need to finish this Charms essay." He sighed and sat up straighter trying to focus on the book in front of him. They were barely back and he had more homework to do than he'd ever had before. This year was absolute hell. Maybe Ron had had the right idea.

"Sorry, sorry. I know 'Mione." He managed to focus on his work for another half an hour before he zoned out again. The only students that hadn't been harassing him were mostly the Slytherins surprisingly. Or maybe not so surprising as most of them had been rather subdued this year. 

The articles that had followed the dramatic reveal of his refusal to kill the Dark Lord had been going in a direction that he didn't really like. Crack downs on anything considered dark; families with dark heritage, creatures of all sorts, more magic restrictions. He had thought that after the war was over that things would change for the better, but something didn't feel quite right about all of this.

It wasn't that he thought people like Lucius Malfoy should be able to buy themselves out of trouble with gold, but was there really any reason to try and strip Draco's fortune and properties from him with the reasoning being that he needed to pay repartitions and that there _might_ be dark artifacts in his vaults and manor? 

He wasn't the only pureblood that was having issues either. There had been a string of families in the papers that the Ministry was going after relentlessly, even ones that hadn't had a marked family member. It was troubling.

"Harry!" Hermione whispered harshly, glaring at him. He smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry, my mind just keeps drifting off. I don't know if I can focus on this anymore tonight." He had managed to get half a foot written, and the essay wasn't due until next week. He thought it was a good start. 

The girl sighed, "I know you have a lot on your mind Harry, but it's our NEWTs year." She settled her elbows on the table and tugged at her hair. "Look. You're worried, I'm worried too. Things are starting to get a bit out of control with the Ministry and everything. But we can't really do much until after we have our NEWTs. No one is going to take us seriously if we don't finish our schooling first." 

"Yeah, you're right. I know you are. I just have a bad feeling about all of this. Something tells me it's just the beginning." Hermione's lips were thin, and she nodded seriously. 

"I'm planning on going into the Ministry after graduation. I'm not certain which department yet, it will likely depend on who will take me. I think I'm going to try for Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Hopefully I can do some good there." She nibbled on the end of her quill looking troubled. "Harry, I think we need to be prepared for the worst. If the wizarding world has taught me anything, it's that they're just as prejudiced as Muggles. It's not about skin color or nationality or even gender, but-" She rubbed her arm over the raised scar that she still covered most days. "The light is just as prejudiced as the dark. If it's not blood, it's creature status or affinity."

Pale fingers reached out to grip her wrist pulling her hand away from where she was now scratching. 

"'Mione," He said softly. She glanced up her eyes glossy with tears. "No matter what, we'll figure it out. We always do. You'll be great I'm sure, I don't know how anyone could turn you down. You're the most brilliant person I know. I bet the Ministry will be falling over themselves to hire you." 

"Thanks Harry, I really appreciate that." She gripped his hand tightly squeezing it. "But first we have to finish our NEWTs before anyone will hire either of us." He groaned, and she nudged him in the ribs. "It's not that bad, I'll help you, what part are you stuck on?"

He ran his finger through his hair in a frustrated manner, sliding the book towards her. 

"This part right here I just don't understand..."

* * *

Saturday evening had them heading down to the Tonkes rooms to meet up with Andromeda for animagus lessons. Hermione was bouncing with excitement, rattling off facts.

"-and did you know that Morgan le Fay was a bird animagus? Oh I can't wait to start, I know you don't find out if you can become or what you are until after you've gone through the process but I really hope that I'm something useful. Can you imagine if your form was something like a flobberworm?" Her eyes went wide at the thought, "Oh Harry! What if I'm a flobberworm! Oh goodness that would just be, oh gosh," She started to panic staring at him with wide brown eyes.

Harry snickered, "Hermione, I highly doubt you'll be a flobberworm." They rounded the final corner and saw a group of students standing outside of Andromeda's door. Luna and Neville were talking quietly to each other and a Hufflepuff boy Harry didn't recognize. Off to the side a bit were Draco and Astoria Greengrass, along with two other girls, one Ravenclaw and one Slytherin. Harry assumed the three he didn't know were likely actual 7th years, instead of students in his year taking their 8th year.

"But Harry, some people don't even have a form! What if I don't have one?" They reached Neville and Luna who greeted them. Luna smiled dreamily.

"Don't worry, Hermione. The nargles told me that we all have one, and none of us are flobberworms. Or Blibbering Humdingers." She looked somewhat depressed at this thought, and twiddled her necklace somewhat despondently. Harry could tell Hermione was doing her best not to roll her eyes. Neville perked up at this however, he looked like he had been worried himself.

"Thanks Luna." She said dryly. 

"Honestly Hermione, I could see you being an owl or something. Owls are supposed to be very smart. I know Hedwig was." A sharp pain shot through his heart, he missed her dearly. He missed a lot of people.

She gave him a half smile and squeezed his arm in a comforting manner.

"Thanks Harry."

Finally Andromeda opened the door, stepped out.

"All right all of you." She glanced taking inventory of who had shown up, and then nodded. "We're headed down to the greenhouses. Follow me."

They all fell into a group, trailing after the witch who walked with a purposeful stride down the hall. When they reached the greenhouses she opened the door for a specific one and gestured them inside. 

"Now, as I'm sure most of you are aware, the first step in this process is to hold a Mandrake leaf in your mouth for a month. It needs to be picked during the full moon, and you must not remove, swallow, or spit it out or you will have to wait for the next full moon to start again." She looked over the group sternly, making sure they were all listening to her. "I must warn you, there is no cheating on this. This process must be done exactly right or you can end up disfigured permanently. There is no rush, please make sure that you all do this correctly."

Hermione's hand shot up in the air and the Professor glanced at her.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"Professor can you use a sticking charm? Or some other method to help you keep the leaf in your mouth?" Andromeda nodded.

"Excellent question. Yes, you can use a sticking charm. You will need to renew it daily, and be careful not to stick your mouth shut when you do it. I suggest sticking it under your tongue or to the roof of your mouth. Five points to Gryffindor." Hermione grinned.

"Now, the Headmistress has given us permission to use these two Mandrakes for our lesson. There should be enough leaves between the two of them for all of you. Please, one at a time come and carefully trim a leaf off. Make sure to leave a few on either plant."

One by one they went and trimmed a leaf off, making sure not to disturb the plants that rustled in their pots. Once they all had their leaves Harry turned to Hermione and held his mouth open.

"Will you cast a sticking charm for me? I think I'll try it under my tongue and see how that works." She nodded, and rolled it carefully into a little tube that would fit better, and placed it under his tongue before casting the charm. Then she proceeded to do the same with her own.

Harry made a face. "It tastes weird. Not bad I guess, just odd." Luna was doing the same for Neville, and the other students were doing their own. 

"Hey Granger!" The Hufflepuff called out, walking over to them. He had a mouth that was a little too wide to fit comfortably on his face and a dark copper colored hair. The witch turned to look at him.

"Yes Aubrey?" He stopped in front of them, and then held out his hand to Harry.

"Rambert Aubrey. Nice to meet you Potter." Harry took the offered hand and gave it a shake. He turned to Hermione. "Granger, could you help me with the sticking charm? I've never been very good at charms, honestly."

"Sure, you'll have to learn this one on your own you know. I can't restick it for you every day." She carefully prodded his mouth with her wand, sticking the leaf to the roof of it while he held it for her.

"Of course, and Rambert or Bert is fine. I'll practice it tonight. I didn't want to attempt it on myself without at least a mirror."

"Hermione then." 

"Hermione, thanks." She nodded.

"Do all of you have your Mandrake leaves? Got them all stuck in place? Good, let's head back to my office so we can talk over the rest of what to expect just to make sure we're all clear on the process." Andromeda exited the greenhouse and they all followed her back up to the castle.

* * *

Andromeda conjured enough chairs for them all to sit down in a semicircle around her desk. Hermione had a notebook on her lap with a quill poised over it waiting to take notes. 

"We have just completed the first step. Again, I warn you not to lose or remove your leaf. If you do, come to me and we will try again on the next full moon. Now, so long as everything goes well, come the next full moon we will be removing the Mandrake leaf. We need moonlight for the next step of the process so everyone hope for a clear night, or you will all have to start over."

The Slytherin girl that Harry didn't know raised her hand. She had long unbound perfectly curled honey blond hair. 

"Yes Miss Rosier?" Harry tried to not react to her surname, but he figured he likely failed when Hermione jabbed him sharply.

"Professor, there's no way to choose your animal is there?"

"No, Miss Rosier, as I know you are aware. None of you will find out what your form is until after we have completed the process. The way that your animal is chosen has been theorized to have much to do with your personality traits, but nothing has been proven. There is an entire tribe that was discovered in Africa that were all hyenas and ran in a pack, and it was suggested that sometimes animals might be hereditary. Studies have shown that wixen are more likely to be an animal that is native to area where they are from or spend much of their time. Again, we are unsure why this is the case."

"Any other questions?" The Ravenclaw girl raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Dolohov." This time it was Hermione that twitched at the name. Harry glanced at her concerned when she rubbed her chest and grimaced a bit. He knew that she still carried the scar from Antonin Dolohov's curse when they had fought him in the Department of Mysteries.

"Professor," The Ravenclaw had shoulder length thick dark hair, and a carmel complexion that could have been Greek or Middle Eastern, "I have read that sometimes the patronus charm can reveal your animagus form?"

"Yes, Miss Dolohov. Five points to Ravenclaw. The patronus charm is based off a similar type of inner magic, however as our happiest memories are not always about ourselves. If you find your strength in another, sometimes patroni are known to take on their image symbolically; either as their animagus form or in another way. But again, much of this is speculation and not always the case." Hermione and Harry shared a look, remembering Snape's doe patronus and Harry's own stag.

When no one else raised their hand she continued, "The next step will be to use the leaf in a potion which I will assist you in getting all of the ingredients for. It is not complex, but must again be done correctly or you risk harming yourselves. Once we have completed that step I will keep each of your potions for you so they remain undisturbed. Each morning at sunrise and each evening at sunset we will venture outside and recite an incantation, _Amato Animo Animato Animagus_. This must be done every day without fail. If you don't think that you can do this, you can leave now. If you miss even one day, you must start the entire process over."

She paused, glancing at her students who were all watching her with rapt attention. Hermione was scribbling frantically next to him.

"The last step in the process will be to wait for a lightning storm. Until this happens, we will continue our chant at sunup and sundown every day. When the storm occurs, we all head out to a large area, recite the incantation a final time, and drink your potions. If you have done everything correctly at this point you should transform."

Hermione's hand shot up and Andromeda looked amused.

"Yes Miss Granger?"

"What about registration?"

"The Headmistress has informed me that you will be required to register your forms upon successful completion of the transformation. We will head down to the Ministry and register them at that time. You should also be aware that if you show the official giving your Transfiguration NEWT your form, you will receive extra credit." Hermione nearly bounced in her seat with excitement.

Luna was the next to raise her hand.

"Miss Lovegood?" 

"Yes, Professor, I was just wondering if anyone has had a magical creature form before?" Her wide blue eyes were a bit hazy as she twirled one of her blond locks around her finger.

"It has happened once or twice, however it is highly unlikely. The two people known to have had one, were both extremely powerful. One was Merlin, whose form was a flying seahorse. The other was a French Dark Lady by the name of Volantia Canard whose reign was abruptly ended when she first attempted her form, a type of dragon, and died due to her magic not being able to support it."

The shocked silence that fell around the room was deathly still as they all realised it was possible to die from what they were doing. 

"I would not worry about that, however. She's the only recorded death from this process that wasn't caused by incorrectly following the steps. All of you should be just fine. Any other questions?" They shook their heads.

"It is getting quite late. The next full moon is on Sunday in four weeks. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please feel free to come to me. My office is always open."


	9. Chapter 9

Tom Marvolo Riddle had a lot of time to think. 

They had locked him into some dank little stone hole that was always damp and dark. One torch flickered in the corner, never burning out. The air was renewed magically, food and water appeared twice a day, and disappeared with any other waste a half an hour later. The food, if it could be called that for it was _vile_ , was the same porridge mixed with a nutrient supplement of some kind. It kept his body from deteriorating to an unacceptable state so he forced himself to eat it. He had endured worse things in his life.

 _Like not being able to eat at all..._ His mind whispered.

He wasn't entirely certain what had happened that night in the forest with Potter, but he did know the results of it.

Something had stitched his soul back together, in the most painful and excruciating manner possible, all except for a miniscule bit of it. If a wizard was a sum total of their parts, he was more the Tom Riddle that had taken advantage of his first accidental murder at the hands of a Basilisk than anything else, which was at first disconcerting. 

This meant a couple of things for him:

First, the Horcrux ritual had not removed a small splinter of soul like he had originally thought. It had split the soul in _half_. He wondered why none of the books he had found on the subject had mentioned this, other one book that had briefly cautioned against making more than one.

He had to admit, perhaps he had been a bit hasty in his youth. He should have done more research.

Second, he now had the infinite, and hard won patients of something that is forced to wait for over half a century in a never changing space that he was unable to affect in any meaningful way. And again waiting in terrified limbo, unable to move, in pain, as some sort of uncorporeal quasi-fetal soul waiting to see what would become of him after he had died. 

In fact, most of him had learned this patients, waiting, forever waiting. Unchanging and stuck in one place for untold lengths of time. He had not realised that creating a horcrux would be locking something just as sentient as himself into such a place. Perhaps it had been his arrogance at utterly rejecting the idea that the soul was so much of what he was.

He had thought that it was nothing more than a tool or a tether to this plane. He hated to admit that his muggle upbringing had affected him in way, but perhaps he had rejected the religious teachings that had been forced on him a little too thoroughly. The soul it seemed was such an integral part of what and who a wizard or witch was and their control over their magic. 

Because, now he saw that towards the end he had in fact been a bludgeon instead of a blade. Where had all of his iron control and wandless precision gone? He hadn't noticed at the time (or rather, he had, but had easily dismissed it in his deteriorating sanity) but where once he could have picked the lock of a door one pin and bolt at a time from the other side of a house, he had later in his life been reduced to smashing the door open.

At the very end he would have been hard pressed to do that with anything other than his wand.

Tom Marvolo Riddle was many things, but lying to himself had never been something he had wanted to be practiced in. Lord Voldemort, on the other hand, while it could be blamed on many many things, had been full of self deception and delusion.

It had taken Tom months to sort out all the memories from the soul pieces and integrate their various mindsets and experiences into a cohesive whole. The heavy iron cuffs sealed around his wrists and ankles kept his magic suppressed inside of him, which didn't stop him from practicing Occlumency or other forms of internal magic. Otherwise he likely would have gone mad. Again.

Which brought him to his last realisation: Something had gone drastically wrong with his resurrection. He blamed his lack of care for his appearance and body on his apparent insanity. 

Tom Riddle thumped his head against the stone behind him in a frustrated and undignified move he would never make in front of anyone. But he allowed himself a bit of lenience in this moment. He had originally brushed it off as an effect of using Nagini's venom to nurse his homunculus, but now with a much clearer mind he was able to do all the calculations and walk mentally step by step through the process. 

He had designed that ritual before he was completely lost to the madness, and it should not have brought about the tall wraith like monstrosity that he had become. At least not beyond the first couple days, after his magic had settled back into his new body. All of his familiar's venom should have been cleansed from him in time.

He had considered the fact that his magic may have been too weak to override the snake venom, but he hadn't lost any magic, just his control over it. Perhaps it hadn't been his magic that was needed, but strength of soul? It would explain why he was more or less himself again in both appearance and mind. 

But even with a nearly complete soul some effects still lingered. He knew his eyes were still reptilian, and he could see magic like nothing he had ever experienced before. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the side effects, it was that he was frustrated with his inability to discern where exactly they had come from. He had done no rituals to gain magic sensitivity, nor the slight infrared overlay of heat signatures. 

He considered that Wormtail may have mucked up the potion, but he didn't think so. Which left the only other variable element; Potter's blood. 

This had baffled him for a long while, and he had dismissed it. But his thoughts kept circling around the only reason that made any sense. He had vague hazy memories of Lucius and his diary from his Voldemort bit. Something about a fiasco in the Chamber with the Basilisk from the half of him that was still teenage Tom Riddle. He remembered Potter getting bit, and being stabbed with a fang, and Dumbledore's blasted bird, but everything after that was insubstantial. Obviously Potter had survived.

Basilisk venom was much much more potent than Nagini's venom. Especially one as old as the one under Hogwarts had been. 

Rolling his neck and shoulders, red eyes blinked back open to stare at the wall before closing again.

His connection with the boy's mind, and the boy's ability to speak the serpent tongue when he shouldn't be able to was another thing he hadn't spent nearly enough energy thinking about before. Really, now it was quite obvious what had happened. 

In the moments where he could force himself to be completely objective of the situation, he found he almost wanted to... _Thank_ Potter. With his newfound clarity he realised he had been nothing more then a mad dog, the barest meanest shadow of himself, bent on nothing other than destruction and driven by obsession. It was disgusting. He himself had likely done more to expose them to the muggles then anything Dumbledore had done. 

He rolled that thought around in his head for a while. The Muggles were going to be an issue, and much much sooner now. He had not spent much time in their world since he was a child, but he was capable of understanding trends in societies and extrapolating based upon the small amount of facts that he had. He gave the wizarding world a decade or two, three at the most, before they were forced to understand the same thing that he had always known.

Muggles were dangerous, and their society was stagnant. They would not be ready, and likely they would not even realise there was a threat until it was too late. Eventually they would realise he had been correct in his beliefs, and then they would come to him for help. He was not very worried about dying, after all he still had one horcrux out there.

A slow dark smile pulled at the corners of his lips and red eyes slitted open. One horcrux left, one that was either immune to the killing curse or incurably lucky.

* * *

The two girls that Harry had only known the last names of were Livilla Rosier and Pythodorida Dolohov, both in Luna's year, and Pythodorida in Luna's house. Both were smart good at transfiguration. 

Both had Death Eaters for fathers.

Livilla reminded him of Lavender some days, if he was honest. Very worried about appearance and boys and other silly things, but had a rather vicious side and seemed to barely tolerate Andromeda, who had during a visit with him had confided that they were related though her mother's side, who had also been a Rosier. Evan Rosier was her cousin, and Livilla his daughter. That made them first cousins once removed, and Harry didn't bother being surprised anymore when finding out just how closely many families were related in this world. 

After all, Andromeda and him had the same great-grandfather in Cygnus Black. Wasn't that a bit odd to think about. Andromeda had taken it upon herself to educate him in some of the family histories, of which she knew a great deal. He was related to Ron through their great-great-grandfather of Phineas Nigellus Black, along with Neville. 

Luna had even claimed that one of her ancestors had been Iola Black, who had been the sister of Phineas Nigellus, but was struck off the family tree for marrying the muggle Bob Hitchens. Harry wasn't sure what to think of this, and Andromeda seemed a bit shocked at the news.

The fact that he had been related, however distantly, to so many of his classmates and one of his teachers just made his childhood situation rankle that much more. 

And on top of that, Luna's grandmother had been Euphemia Lovegood, who had married his grandfather Charlus's cousin, Fleamont Potter. She looked a bit sad and reluctant to tell that story, so he let her be. Luna, after all, looked nothing like a Potter so he assumed that she was not related to him through blood. He remembered Death telling him that James had been born to Euphemia and Fleamont in another timeline, and wondered if he was related to Luna in that one or not. Thinking too hard about it made him feel like he was trying to do mental somersaults so he let the thought lie. 

After all, just before sunrise on a Tuesday morning was no time to be contemplating different universes. 

It was mid-October, and all of them except for Neville, who had unfortunately managed to stick his mouth together with a sticking charm and in the process of trying to unstick it had vanished his leaf (and as such had to start over) were dragging themselves out to a hidden area on the side of the lake. Andromeda had shown them the place behind a copse of trees that hid them from view of the castle, but gave a perfect view of either horizon. 

It was starting to get chilly and besides Hermione who was for whatever odd reason a morning person, no one else looked very enthusiastic to be there.

Harry sat himself down on one of the rocks that littered the area, having already done this for a little over a week now, he instinctively heated both his and Hermione's rocks with a small burst of fire magic. 

Draco sat down on the rock on the opposite side of him, after casting his own warming charm.

"Potter, Granger." It was more of a tired grunt then a greeting, but Harry nodded back all the same.

That was another change. Malfoy seemed to be making somewhat of an attempt to at least be cordial with him. He supposed it had something to do with the life debt he owed him for saving him from Fiendfyre, or that he had spoken at the Malfoy's trials in their favor which had helped to keep both him and his mother out of Azkaban. 

Andromeda was standing watching the horizon absently with her back turned towards them. When the sun began to peak over the edge, she turned.

"You all know the steps by now, begin!"

They each placed the tips of their wands over their hearts and chanted _Amato Animo Animato Animagus_ in unison. With that step complete, they quickly stood, heading back into the warmth of the castle. Most of them went straight to the Great Hall to get some breakfast and start the day.

* * *

Ginny plopped down beside him while he was nursing his scalding hot coffee.

"Hey Harry." 

"Sup, Gin?" The redhead had taken a few weeks to work out whatever issues she'd had with their official breakup, but seemed to be alright now. Or at least making an effort to be so.

"I was wondering about Quidditch this year. You know that McGonagall made me Captain last year and I wanted to see if you would like the position back." He had thought about quidditch a bit but not all that much. Between the drama from the Prophet and NEWT studies it had nearly slipped his mind.

Slowly he shook his head. "No, I think you should keep it." Her face screwed up in a combination of confusion but he could also tell that she a little happy at his response.

"Are... Are you sure Harry? I know the team would love to have you back." He grinned at her.

"Well, I'll still be there when you decide to hold tryouts, but I just have too much going on this year to also be the captain. I think you'll do just fine, Gin." She smiled at him and leaned over to give him a quick hug.

"Thanks Harry! I'll fight you for that seeker position, but I'm happy playing chaser too." They both had a competitive glint in their eyes, he stuck his hand out, and she shook it.

"May the best seeker win!"


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's a quick sketch I did of the Animagus group, since there are a few OC's and i thought this might help to keep track of them.
> 
>  
> 
> Also I did edit the last line of Tom's thinking in the last chapter, since his assumption that Harry is immortal at this point is likely a bit too soon with the info he has. Thanks for the reviews guys!

It's nearing Halloween when Hermione and Malfoy get into a pissing match one evening after they're leaving from their spot behind the lake after doing their spell casting for the transformation.

The bags under Draco's eyes lately have gotten darker, and he's looking rather stressed and gaunt. Harry's not even really sure how the argument had started, but eventually it had de-evolved into Malfoy screaming something about her being a stupid Mudblood, with Livilla Rosier standing behind him looking vicious.

Andromeda at this point had already left back up to the castle, and there was no one out on the grounds. Hermione has tears in her eyes, but her teeth are bared and her curls are frizzed out in anger.

"Malfoy! What the bloody hell, that was uncalled for!" He yells, he thought they had move passed this. He glares at the blond, feeling a twinge of hurt.

"And YOU Potter, Fuck both of you! All high and mighty basking in your glory while the Ministry strips us of anything we had left; our traditions, our rights, our heritage!" Silver eyes are wide and crazed, his normally perfect hair falling around his face.

A year ago Harry would have screamed right back at him in anger. A year ago, Harry wouldn't have been able to smell the desperation and helplessness on him.

"What are you on about, Malfoy, neither of us has been basking in anything! Have you not _seen_ the shite the Prophet has been spewing about Harry?" Hermione spat back at him in anger.

The Dolohov girl was standing farther back and off to the side, but still obviously behind Draco in support. As was the Greengrass girl. The Hufflepuff boy, Aubrey, looked torn, but was wavering towards the side of angry purebloods. Neville still wasn't there with them, as he still had a couple more weeks to go, and Luna looked as flighty as ever, her eyes following something that none of them could see.

"Oh boo hoo, poor orphan _Potter_ having to deal with the Prophet again, while the rest of us lose everything that meant anything to us!" Rosier snarled, her teal eyes flashing. "I never even met my father, he was killed the same year I was born and my mother was never a Death Eater, yet the Ministry is still trying to take everything from us!" She drew her wand and aimed it at the two of them and Harry quickly stepped between her and Hermione.

"Whoa, let's just calm down," He gently tried to push her wand towards the ground, "Look guys, I don't know what you would have me do. Neither Hermione or I agree with what the Ministry has been doing. We don't think it's right and it's not at all what I had wanted from the end of the war."

"Don't fucking try to placate me, hero-boy! You don't know shite and your pretty words aren't going to do any good!" She jabbed him in the chest with her wand which he noticed was some dark colored wood with a little kink towards the tip of it. Harry wince when it burned a little circular hole through his robe.

"Rosier, I'm not trying to do anything, I just think all of this is a big misunderstanding. Hermione and me are _on your side_! We don't agree with anything that's been happening recently. I don't think any of you should suffer for things your parents did or your heritage." The blond girl seemed to waver a bit and his best friend muttered something behind him.

"What was that Granger?" Draco snapped.

"I said, it's Hermione and _I_!" The whole group looked at her incredulously for a moment before Harry snickered. The Dolohov girl let out a quiet laugh, and then finally Rosier dropped her wand in exasperation. 

"Seriously, Granger?" Draco asked before sighing.

"Why don't we all go inside, I think we've missed dinner and I know somewhere where we can chat and I'll have the elves bring us something to eat. We _do_ really want to help, we just don't know how."

Malfoy ran thin pale finger through his hair, trying to push it back into place and failing. He nodded however, and they all headed back up to the castle.

* * *

Harry led the group to the Room of Requirement, which he was forever grateful for. He didn't really know how it had managed to survive all the damage done to it, fiendfyre, his tantrum earlier in the year, but it had eventually recovered from both. He imagined it had something to do with just how powerful and semi-sentient Hogwarts was.

He, Hermione, Luna, and Draco had all used the room before, but the other three students were new to it.

"Wow, what is this place? This is brilliant!" Rambert exclaimed, throwing himself into a squashy gold and silver chintz armchair. 

The rest of the students settled more gracefully into various couches and chairs around a low table, a fire crackling warmly behind them. 

"It's called the Room of Requirement, or the Come and Go room. It becomes whatever you need." Harry explained. 

"Wicked!" Rambert exclaimed, glancing around. Hogwarts had provided them with a cozy sitting room, all colored in a chaotic mashup of the house colors. The loveseat that Harry and Hermione had claimed was vivid red and lime striped. Luna was to their right sitting sideways on an armchair that was sky blue and sunny yellow floral print. The two Slytherins and remaining two Ravenclaws had seated themselves on a large curved couch across from them that was an elegant bronze and dark green.

Harry grinned at the enthusiastic Hufflepuff, before snapping his fingers for an elf.

"Harry Potter sir! What can Button be doing for yous?" Hermione glared at him, but he just gave her an exasperated look. He knew she still felt strongly about House Elves, but now was not the time. It wasn't like Hogwarts elves were treated badly in any way, and he visited them often enough when he didn't feel like dealing with the Great Hall.

"Hey, Button, could my friends and _I_ ," He gave Hermione a sideways glance and the witch rolled her eyes at him, "Get some dinner? Just whatever you have left over from earlier is fine."

Her huge bat ears flapped enthusiastically when she nodded, "Of course Harry Potter, sir, Button be getting yous dinner right away!" She left with a pop, and a minute later some steaming platters of food appeared on the table in front of them. His stomach grumbled hungrily and they each filled a plate with some food. It was peaceful for a few minutes while they all ate their dinner in silence.

Finally Hermione spoke, after setting her finished plate back down on the table.

"What we need is a plan. Kingsley isn't the elected Minister, just the interim one until the Ministry manages to collect themselves enough to hold elections. I'm not certain he actually has the authority to authorize anything that's been occurring."

Pythodorida set her plate down and wiped her mouth daintily with her napkin.

"Granger, it doesn't matter if he has the authority or not right now. Legally the Wizengamot didn't have the authority to waive the trials of suspected Death Eaters during the last war either. He does however have the backing of the public and the light families, and so he's run roughshod over whatever laws are currently in place." She glanced up at the room solemnly and Harry was struck by her violet eyes, which were a stunning combination with her darker coloring.

Rambert continued, "Right now they're working their way through families with dark affinities and creatures in their background. The creature angle is the easiest for them to attack, as most wixen don't see creatures as deserving of the same rights. Some of us are easier to track than others." He brushed dark copper strands behind his ear, which showed a slight point. "I may not be half goblin like Flitwick, but we have goblin ancestors. Our blood is diluted enough that the traits aren't very noticeable, and the Ministry will never get their hands on any of our wealth," He grinned viciously, his wide smile a little pointier than most humans, "After all goblins take care of their own."

"But my father was let go from his position for some bullshit reason last month, and we know it was his dark creature ancestry, not whatever reason they gave." The Hufflepuff pushed his food around on his plate before also setting it down on the table.

Hermione had produced a notebook from her bag, and was scribbling away. She glanced up, tapping her quill thoughtfully. "Yes I've seen the new regulations in the paper. It's abhorrent, and when I graduate I'm planning to go into the ministry to work on changing creature rights." 

Astoria gave a slight cough. She was a frail looking girl with a thin face and light brown hair and eyes, sitting next to Malfoy. 

"No offence, Granger, but I'm not sure that's going to be enough." She had a quiet melodic voice, and looked like she had barely eaten any of her dinner. 

"Well what would you suggest, Greengrass?" The girl smoothed her skirt down looking thoughtful. 

"My family has always been neutral, we didn't support the extremes the Dark Lord went to. We believe in balance, but the light has gotten very heavy handed recently." She glanced over at the pale tired looking Slytherin boy next to her. "I'm not sure. We need a revolution, but we've already lost so much magical blood. We need a balanced leader."

"We had one, before Potter went and offed him the first time." Rosier sneered.

"Liv!" The dark haired Ravenclaw girl snapped, her purple eyes flashing.

"What, it's true. None of us knew the Dark Lord before his fall, but we had parents that did. We've all heard the stories. He was fighting for magical rights for Wizards and Witches, creatures, balance and traditions. Then Potter came along and ruined it." 

Harry stared at her with wide eyes, before he scowled.

"It's not my fault he bloody tried to off me as a baby. I didn't do anything, I was one year old!"

"It wasn't Harry's fault" Luna turned her misty blue eyes towards the group. "The Light Lord's head was filled with wrackspurts." 

"Oh shut up Looney!" Livilla snapped. Harry jumped up and snarled at the Slytherin girl, baring his fangs at her in his fury.

"Don't tell her to shut up, Rosier! You don't know anything!" The couch of Ravens and Slytherins flinched back when his pupils elongated and glowed like the killing curse. Rosier's mask snapped back into place quickly however, and her glossy painted lips twitched up in a smirk.

"Well, well, Potter. Looks like we're not the only ones with secrets, hm?" Realising just what he had done, and that he could see the multi-colored buzz of their auras, he quickly shut his mouth and eyes, focusing on changing his eyes back to their more human state.

 _Shit_ , he thought. _Shit shit shit._

"Sorry." He muttered. Hermione snagged his sleeve and tugged him back down to their loveseat. When he cracked his eyes back open, everything was normal looking again. The other students still looked a little pale, but none of them were looking at him in a disgusted or frightened manner. He supposed there were a few perks when it came to dark families after all. 

"This is getting us nowhere. Before we got off track, the point Luna was making was that from what Harry and I have pieced together, most of what has happened was Dumbledore's fault. Even the prophecy that set Voldemort on Harry was made during an interview held in the Hog's Head."

Pythodorida looked confused for a moment.

"Wait, are you say that Dumbledore held an interview in a _pub_?" Hermione nodded grimly.

"In a pub that is in fact run by his brother. From the couple other interviews Harry and I are aware of, he always held them in his office. So why would he choose to hold an interview in a pub where anyone could listen in?" 

Draco's brows were furrowed. 

"Wait, which professor was it for?" He asked.

"Can't you guess? It was for that fraud Trelawney." Harry replied, shaking his head. "You know, the one that couldn't predict what she was going to eat for dinner that day?" 

Draco snorted, "So let me get this straight. Dumbledore held an interview, which could have been heard by anyone in a pub. For a divination professor who made her one and only correct prediction ever-"

"Two." Harry cut in.

Draco looked confused, "What?"

"The old fraud made a second during my third year that came true too." 

"Alright, two. But still, conveniently in a nearly public location where I assume there was someone that overheard it and took it to the Dark Lord." 

"Of course. Seems a little fishy doesn't it?" Harry grinned, though it looked bitter.

"Potter, did you ever hear the full prophecy?" Draco asked.

"When we went to the Department of Mysteries, it smashed before anyone could hear it. Dumbledore later showed the memory to me, but not in a pensive. He showed me a uh-" He glanced over at Hermione not knowing the term for what Dumbledore had done.

"He showed Harry a pensive projection of Trelawney giving the prophecy. Not a full memory emersion." Pythodorida sputtered, or as close as she seemed to be able to get to the action while still looking composed.

"But those are easily faked!" Hermione nodded in agreement.

"But I didn't know that at the time." Harry sighed looking worn. "I'm not even certain if the prophecy that he showed me was real or not. I know there _was_ a prophecy of some sort, but not necessarily what it even was. Just that it was made about Voldemort and me."

Dolohov, Rosier, and Malfoy shared a look. 

"Potter," Malfoy started hesitantly, "You know how my family was treated by the Dark Lord. I don't condone most of what he did especially towards the end. None of us here knew him before he tried to kill you the first time and lost his body but..." He cleared his throat looking nervous. Harry nodded for him to continue.

"But he was a great leader once. I'm not sure what happened to him after his resurrection but he wasn't anywhere near the same man my Father and Grandfather use to tell stories about. He was winning too, and maybe..." He trailed off.

"Maybe Dumbledore concocted a scheme to stop him?" Hermione asked. Draco nodded in agreement.

"I know what happened to him." Harry muttered. "It was very very black magic. I won't say because I think it's better if people don't know. But when he tried to kill me this last time, the rituals he went through to make himself that way were fixed." 

The room was deathly silent for a moment.

"What?" Pythodorida whispered.

"I'm not going to go into details, Voldemort did some really nasty stuff to himself to stop himself from dying. It worked, but it destroyed his mind." The Ravenclaw breathed out heavily through her nose.

"I can think of a few things that fall into that category. I won't bring it up because if it's anything like what I think, you're right and none of us need to know. But Potter, if you say it's been fixed then..." Her eyes pinned him in place intensely.

"I-" Harry took a deep breath and looked over at his best friend, and then glanced over at Luna who smiled encouragingly at him. "I don't know if I'm ready to go there yet. I know what you're getting at, but I don't know if I can forgive him for everything even if he was insane when it happened." His fingers were twisted together so tightly his hands were beginning to hurt. 

Pythodorida looked disappointed, but nodded sharply. 

"It's getting late guys," Astoria said quietly. "We need to head back to our common rooms. We can all get together and talk about this later."

Hermione packed her notebook up, and Harry could see she was conflicted, but had that stubborn look in her eye when there was a problem that needed to be solved. 

"See you all tomorrow morning then?" Rambert grinned at them, and most of them groaned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on [tumblr](https://dust-factory.tumblr.com/) for other updates and sketches for the story.


	11. Chapter 11

Harry woke up on Halloween to his alarm with a bad feeling. It wasn't anything that he could pinpoint, but he had learned to trust his gut over the years. So with some trepidation, he rolled out of bed to take a scorching hot shower. 

As the boiling water rolled over his neck and shoulders he prayed to magic that he was just imagining things, or perhaps it was just the date. Maybe he was getting sick or some such. He could only hope. After all, most of the terrible things that had happened on this date were because of Voldemort, who was locked away safely.

Harry considered their Animagus training thus far, trying to take his mind of the ominous thoughts. They were coming up on three weeks waiting for an lightning storm. He grinned to himself thinking about Neville's sticking charm debacle. So far his classmate had not had a second mishap, and if there were no thunderstorms in the next week Neville would be able to continue on at the same pace as the rest of them.

Realising if he stood there much longer he would miss sunrise, Harry quickly shut his shower off and dried himself with a burst of heat. His phoenix attributes were rather useful sometimes.

After he had cleaned his teeth and dressed, he quickly made his way out of Gryffindor tower, not seeing Hermione and assuming she was likely already down by the lake. He did however bump into Luna on the way, who looked rather like she had been crying. It made the queasy feeling in his stomach flair up again with worry. 

"Hey, Luna." She glanced up at him, and he noticed she had failed to adorn herself with any accessories today and looked rather pale. She gave him a strained smile and a half hearted wave as he caught up to her.

"What's wrong?" She chewed on her lip glancing back down at the ground.

"We're going to be late if we don't hurry." She murmured, and the green eyed teen studied her stiff shoulders and tense posture. The foreboding feeling he'd had all morning continued to increase, but he knew she was right. There would be time after their morning ritual to question her about it. So instead he reached out gave her arm a quick squeeze letting her know he was there for her if she needed it. Her eyes flicked up towards him, and her lips twitched up for a second in a more genuine smile. 

They both tightened their scarves around their necks as they exited the castle, it was getting cold, but there was still no snow. There had been rain, but no real storms yet. It was shaping up to be a cold wet winter.

When they reached the lake with a few minutes to spare, Harry found Hermione deep in conversation with Pythodorida and Astoria. The three had after the first few bumps become uneasy friends that all enjoyed debating about the theory of a range of magic. 

"It's the reason why Professor Tonks has us meet for both sunup and sundown in the same spot, where both horizons are visible. We need to be in approximately the same spot for both sunrise and sunset as well as where the full moon occurred or it would ruin the natural cycle of the magic." Dolohov was saying. 

Bert coughed, interrupting them. "Hey guys, sun is about to rise." 

They all turned to the horizon and waited until the first edge of sunlight peeked over the horizon before chanting. Once they had all finished Hermione turned back to Pythodorida to continue their talk as they headed back in.

"But what do you mean, why should it matter? If I were to travel to say, South America right now, and continue to chant at both sunrise and sunset there, how would that affect the transformation?" Hermione asked curiously. "I saw a warning in one of the books from changing locations during the process, but it was never explained in detail."

"Our magic has been building in a slow spiralling rhythm, readying itself for when we complete the process." Astoria said in her quiet voice. "It reaches its high point as the sun rises, and it's low point as the sun sets." Hermione looked frustrated.

"But how can you tell?" Astoria rubbed her chest.

"It's right here, like a pulsing warmth. I feel it peak as we do the chant, and then wane as we do the one in the evening. It gets a little stronger every day." 

"But _how_? We were never taught that!" 

"Granger, it's not something they teach here." Draco cut in, with a weary sigh. "It's something we were taught as children, to feel our magic." Hermione stomped her foot.

"But why not!"

"Because part of the process of learning how to feel your magic is celebrating the sacred days when it's strongest." Dolohov stated darkly, and understanding dawned on Hermione's face. "For those of us who celebrate them, today it is especially strong." Harry could see curiosity spark up in his best friend's eyes, as they reentered the castle.

"So you're saying that we've built up a- a flow, or pulse almost, and if I were to attempt to continue it somewhere else..."

"It's like, hm." Pythodorida looked contemplative for a moment. "Have you ever made waves in a pool of water?" The bushy haired Gryffindor nodded. "If each subsequent wave was just a little bigger then the last, but each is equal distance apart, correct? So if you suddenly attempted to make a wave at a different speed from the others..." Understanding dawned in Hermione's eyes.

"It would ruin the waveform! You would suddenly have multiple waves of different sizes at different speeds, yes that makes sense."

Since they were usually all up so early, and today being a Saturday, some of them had taken to sitting at the same house table in the mornings. Harry settled down between Luna and Hermione, with Pythodorida, Astoria, and Draco across from them. Rambert sat next to Luna, and Livilla who was usually quiet and sulky in the mornings grudgingly took her place next to Pythodrida. 

"Can't you two save the debate until after breakfast?" Rosier grumbled, a cup of tea appearing in front of her. 

"Hush, Liv. Drink your tea." The girl looked like she barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes. 

Harry, meanwhile was not feeling very hungry, and neither was Luna apparently.

"Luna," He whispered, "Is something going to happen today?" The blond's jaw clenched, and she reached up to rub her eyes. She was acting so out of character this morning. "Luna, please, what's wrong?" The girl's breath hitched and she let out a short aborted sob. 

"I- I'm s-sorry I can't today I just-" She stood abruptly, and when Harry tried to grasp her wrist, she tugged it free and fled out of the hall. The table fell silent and Harry stared after her with wide eyes.

"Harry, what happened to Luna?" Hermione asked, looking confused and worried.

"I'm not really sure, I've had a bad feeling all morning and Luna hasn't been herself either. I'm worried something is going to happen today. I'm going to go find her." Harry stood, his food untouched, and sprinted off in the direction the blond Ravenclaw had headed.

Rosier finally rolled her eyes.

"It's just Looney, I don't know why you're all getting so worked up." Brown eyes flashed in anger and Hermione snapped back.

"Shut up, Rosier. No one asked you. I've learned to trust Harry's gut feelings over the years, and if he says something bad is going to happen today, then I believe him."

"Whatever, Mudblood." Before Hermione could say anything in retaliation, McGonagall rounded the table.

"That will be 20 points from Slytherin for language, and detention with Filch tonight, Miss Rosier." The blond glared at the Headmistress who had her lips pressed together in anger.

"What! Headmistress, but-" 

"Should we make it 40 points?" Draco was now glaring over Pythodorida at Livilla.

"Shut up Rosier!" He hissed at the girl.

"No, Headmistress." She sulked, turning to glare at her tea.

"You are graduating this year, Miss Rosier, I expect better conduct from you. Please report to Mister Filch's office at 7pm tonight. Do not be late." McGonagall then turned, her tartan robes snapping smartly about her ankles, as she made her way to the head table.

The girl grumbled, looking sour. Hermione couldn't help but feel slightly vindicated.

"Well, you brought that one on yourself, Livilla." Pythodorida said dryly. 

"Shut up, _Borida._ " The caramel skinned girl just shook her head in amusement at the childish insult.

* * *

When Harry found Luna she was curled up in an unused corridor on a windowsill, her face pressed against the cold glass crying silently.

"Luna..." He reached out to touch her arm lightly, and was a little surprised when she launched herself at him, sobbing into his robe. He caught her in a tight hug, letting her cry into his shoulder. He tried to calm her by petting her head and whispering soothingly into her ear. When her sobs seemed to subside, they found themselves on the ground under the window, sitting against the wall, with Luna nearly in Harry's lap.

She finally pulled back and scrubbed her face with her sleeve, before reaching for her wand and casting a few charms to clean the snot and tears from his shoulder and her face. 

"Lu, talk to me, what's wrong?" Her eyes were still puffy and red, and her breath uneven. She sighed raggedly and leaned her head back against the wall.

"I'm going to tell you a story." She paused for a moment and Harry waited patiently for her to speak. "My grandmother was an only child, and I've been told I look quite a bit like her. She died before I was born, and so I never met her." Harry reached over to grasp her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "When she was in Hogwarts, she fell in love with Fleamont Potter, who was your grandfather's cousin." Harry hummed, she had already told him this.

"They were set to be married the summer after they graduated. However, a boy by the name of Thord Rowle was also in love with her, and after failing to win her attentions became bitter and enraged. He cursed your grandfather with infertility, and they were unable to conceive children." She sighed her mouth turned down in a bitter frown. "They were unable to prove it was Rowle, but they always assumed so."

"They spent many years, trying to find a way to lift the curse, and when finally my grandmother managed to conceive her first child, they praised magic and assume they had been blessed. My grandmother in fact had three children, one of which was my father." Green eyes widened, and he stared at the Ravenclaw in shock.

"Wait, but, we are related then?" She bowed her head, wheat colored curls creating a limp curtain around her. She shook her head. 

"No," She whispered. "A year after my uncle was born, Fleamont died suspiciously. Thord Rowle then stepped in, and using some of the older laws charged my grandmother with attempted line theft if she didn't marry him, and when tests were done on her three children they were all found to be his." She laughed bitterly. "As he was a respected Pureblood and she of mixed heritage, he easily won his case. My grandmother married him to keep from being thrown in Azkaban and to stay with her children." 

"Merlin, Luna, that's terrible. I'm so sorry." He gave her a sideways hug, and she sniffled into his shoulder but after a minute drew back again. 

"Thanks Harry. It's okay, this all happened before I was born, so it's not too bad for me to talk about. My father ran away when he was a teenager and legally changed his name to Lovegood, and renounced my real grandfather. He was disowned for it too, but that's a different story." She took a deep breath.

"I might not have had much contact with my Aunt or Uncle growing up, but I think you remember my Uncle Thorfinn." Harry nodded, did indeed remember Thorfinn Rowle, who was currently imprisoned for being a Death Eater. "My Uncle was married to a French wizard named Midhir, and they had two children together." Her voice cracked and more tears spilled down her face. Harry's brain stuttered to a halt, and he squeaked.

"Wh- wait, what? They had kids? But how? You mean they adopted two kids?" Luna glanced up at him with an odd look on her face.

"No, Harry, Uncle Midhir was part Unsidhe Fae." She paused looking at him expectantly like that should mean something to him. When all she got in return was a blank stare she continue, "The Sidhe have no gender. Therefore some of their descendants are capable of giving birth no matter their gender. Some wixen with certain creature inheritance are capable of the same thing for various reasons." Harry's face was pink at this point, never having heard of such a thing before, but he supposed it wasn't the weirdest thing he had run across in this world.

"A- alright." He swallowed, forcing that thought from his mind. Now was not the time. "You said was part Unsidhe, not is. What happened to your Uncle Midhir?" Luna's face crumpled.

"U- Uncle Midhir was always always nice to me. Uncle Thorfinn I didn't see much growing up, but family is important to the Fae. He never laughed at me or made fun of me when I was growing up. Sometimes he would come by and bring me sweets when Uncle Thorfinn was busy." She choked, crying hard. Harry pulled the blond Ravenclaw back into his side squeezing her tightly. 

"He only wanted children and was never a Death Eater. Uncle Thorfinn was his mate, you see. The Sidhe have no choice in who their mate is, and can only have children with their destined mate." The foreboding feeling in the pit of Harry's stomach was back.

"Luna, what happened to your Uncle?" 

"When I was thirteen Riacan and Ethna were born." She stared off down the hall, silent tears running down her face, but a small smile twitched at the edge of her mouth. "They were so sweet, Uncle Midhir was overjoyed. Sometimes over the summer hols he would bring them by for my Father and I to play with." She turned haunted eyes towards him, "And then the war picked up and Uncle wasn't allowed to see us anymore. I hadn't seen them in two years. I was hoping to see them this summer, but everything has been such a mess I just didn't have time. And now..."

"Luna..." Her silent tears devolved into gasping heart wrenching sobs and she gripped his robe tightly. Harry's heart hurt just looking at his friend. "Lu, what happened?" He whispered into her hair.

"I- I," She barely seemed to be able to breath through her tears, "f-felt them die, early this mor-rning," Luna choked out, "Why didn't I See it!" She wailed, "Why Harry!" She yanked hard at her hair, ripping out a few of the strands, and the Gryffindor gently detangled her fingers, holding her hands tightly in his own. He didn't doubt that Luna knew that her Uncle and cousins were dead, he knew she had the uncanny ability to know things she shouldn't. They had never really talked about it, but he usually trusted her oddly insightful statements. 

"I don't know, Luna." She buried her face in his shoulder and screamed, pounding her head against his collarbone. "What could you have done? Shhh, it's not your fault." She pounded her fist against his chest and he tried not to wince, holding his friend tightly. He felt his eyes water in sympathy. 

"Why didn't I find time to g- go see them this summer? WHY!" Her breaths were coming quicker, as she gasped between sobs. 

"Breath! You have to breath Luna!" He shook her, but she seemed gone, lost in a panicked haze of distress. "LUNA!" 

"It's," gasp "All," gasp, "My fault!" Her small chest rose and fell quickly and Harry started to panic too, not knowing what to do. Luna seemed to be having a panic attack, and so without having a better option, he yanked his wand out of his pocket, fumbling with it for a second before muttering a sleeping charm. 

He stood on legs that had fallen asleep, quickly trying to stomp the pins and needles out of them before lifting Luna and casting a feather light charm on her as well. Her face was red and blotchy and streaked with tears, her hair a ratted mess. He quickly sped towards the Hospital wing hoping Madam Pomfrey would be able to help.

* * *

It took three days for the Prophet to print anything about the incident. Harry imagined that the Ministry had tried to keep it quiet, and Luna had been a pale quiet shadow of herself. She wore only the school uniform with no extra accessories, her hair was lank and unwashed. There were no comments about Nargles or Wrackspurts or any other made up creatures. 

On Tuesday morning, Hermione opened the Prophet and gasped covering her mouth with her hand. Harry leaned over to see what she was looking at and paled.

> **THE MIDHIR MASSACRE, 15 AURORS DEAD**  
>  On Halloween, a squadron of Aurors went to question Midhir Rowle on allegations related to his husband Thorfinn Rowle (A known Death Eater who was imprisoned earlier this summer), and were viciously attacked. Rowle allegedly used dark Fae magic to paralyze and kill his victims, taking out the force that was sent as a precaution, before backup arrived on the scene. 

The article went on to list the crimes Thorfinn had been accused of while espousing the dangers of dark creatures and their magic. The aurors that had died were listed, along with their families and various accomplishments. Nothing was said about little Riacan and Ethna Rowle, or how Midhir had died.

It was utter shite, and glancing around the hall, he could tell he wasn't the only one that thought so. Luna's face was white, and her hands trembling over at the Ravenclaw table. Pythodorida was sitting next to her also glaring at the paper. Andromeda sat straight backed at the head table, looking enraged. The Slytherins were all whispering angrily to each other.

"Why would they send an entire squadron to ask a few questions?" Hermione whispered furiously. "This is getting out of hand."

"I agree." He glanced worriedly at Luna again, and back at the paper. "There's nothing about his kids either." 

"Well it's not like the Ministry would let them print the fact that Aurors killed off two four year old children." She hissed acidly. 

"'Mione, we have to _do_ something, this can't go on!" Her face was grim.

"Tonight we can meet after sundown in the Room of Requirement. We need a plan, and it can't wait until after our NEWTs." 

Black hair fell into his eyes as he began to plot.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, not beta'd. Please feel free to help me out with grammar or spelling, I'm not the best at it. Thanks!


End file.
